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  • JUDY WOODRUFF: In Los Angeles, they faced off for the final time this year, seven candidates

  • at last night's "PBS NewsHour"/Politico debate jockeying to become the Democrat with a chance

  • to unseat President Trump.

  • They jousted over policy, political influence, and who among them was the best equipped to

  • take on the president in 2020.

  • John Yang begins our look.

  • JOHN YANG: The tone of the "PBS NewsHour"/Politico debate turned on a dime from civil to contentious.

  • The spark?

  • Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren calling out South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg,

  • over fund-raising, specifically a fund-raiser he attended this past weekend hosted by Napa

  • Valley winery owners.

  • SEN.

  • ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), Presidential Candidate: the mayor just recently had a fund-raiser

  • that was held in a wine cave full of crystals and served $900-a-bottle wine.

  • Think about who comes to that.

  • He had promised that every fund-raiser he would do would be open door, but this one

  • was closed door.

  • We made the decision many years ago that rich people in smoke-filled rooms would not pick

  • the next president of the United States.

  • PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), Presidential Candidate: This is the problem with issuing purity tests

  • you cannot yourself pass.

  • (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

  • PETE BUTTIGIEG: If I pledge -- if I pledge never to be in the company of a progressive

  • Democratic donor, I couldn't be up here.

  • Senator, your net worth is 100 times mine.

  • JOHN YANG: Buttigieg and Warren are competing for the same supporters: college-educated

  • white voters.

  • The mayor also clashed with Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, who contrasted her election

  • successes with his failures.

  • SEN.

  • AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), Presidential Candidate: We should have someone heading up this ticket

  • that has actually won and been able to show that they can gather the support that you

  • talk about of moderate Republicans and independents, as well as a fired-up Democratic base, and

  • not just done it once; I have done it three times.

  • I think winning matters.

  • PETE BUTTIGIEG: If you want to talk about the capacity to win, try putting together

  • a coalition to bring you back to office with 80 percent of the vote as a gay dude in Mike

  • Pence's Indiana.

  • (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

  • SEN.

  • AMY KLOBUCHAR: Again, I would -- Mayor, if you -- if you had won in Indiana, that would

  • be one thing.

  • You tried and you lost by 20 points.

  • JOHN YANG: Another fault line?

  • Health care.

  • Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders supports Medicare for all, while former Vice President Joe Biden

  • wants to expand a public option.

  • JOSEPH BIDEN (D), Presidential Candidate: Sixteen percent of the American public is

  • on Medicare now and everybody has a tax taken out of their paycheck now.

  • Tell me, you're going to add 84 percent more and there's not going to be higher taxes?

  • At least before he was honest about it.

  • SEN.

  • BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), Presidential Candidate: Joe...

  • JOSEPH BIDEN: It's going to increase personal taxes.

  • There are going to be...

  • SEN.

  • BERNIE SANDERS: That's right.

  • We are going to increase personal taxes.

  • But we're eliminating premiums, we're eliminating co-payments, we're eliminating deductibles,

  • we're eliminating all out-of-pocket expenses, and no family in America will spend more than

  • $200 a year on prescription drugs.

  • JOHN YANG: Two lower-tier candidates who made last night's more select debate stage sought

  • to take advantage of the platform.

  • Tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang noted that he was the only candidate of color in the debate.

  • ANDREW YANG (D), Presidential Candidate: I grew up the son of immigrants, and I had many

  • racial epithets used against me as a kid.

  • But black and Latinos have something much more powerful working against them than words.

  • They have numbers.

  • The average net worth of a black household is only 10 percent that of a white household.

  • Fewer than 5 percent of Americans donate to political campaigns.

  • You know what you need to donate to political campaigns?

  • Disposable income.

  • I guarantee, if we had a freedom dividend of $1,000 a month, I would not be the only

  • candidate of color on this stage tonight.

  • JOHN YANG: Billionaire activist Tom Steyer discussed race in the context of President

  • Trump's immigration policies.

  • TOM STEYER (D), Presidential Candidate: I think it's important to note that this president

  • is not against immigration.

  • He's against immigration by nonwhite people.

  • This is a racial argument by a racist president who's trying to divide us and who's vilifying

  • people.

  • It's absolutely wrong.

  • And it's led him to break the laws of humanity in our name.

  • JOHN YANG: The night also featured the most in-depth discussion of foreign policy so far

  • this cycle, from China's human rights record.

  • JOSEPH BIDEN: A million Uyghurs, as you pointed out, Muslims, are in concentration camps.

  • That's where they are right now.

  • They're being abused.

  • They are in concentration camps.

  • JOHN YANG: To the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

  • SEN.

  • BERNIE SANDERS: What U.S. foreign policy must be about is not just being pro-Israel.

  • We must be pro-Palestinian as well.

  • JOHN YANG: Despite lively disagreements on policy, the candidates didn't lose sight of

  • one issue that unites them.

  • PETE BUTTIGIEG: This is our chance, this is our only chance to defeat Donald Trump.

  • JOHN YANG: A point that polls show Democratic voters also in strong agreement.

  • For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm John Yang.

JUDY WOODRUFF: In Los Angeles, they faced off for the final time this year, seven candidates

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