Kamala Harris turned a heath care question into a full-on Biden attack
The second round of Democratic debates took just a few minutes to become a Biden-Harris rematch.
CNN launched Wednesday night with a health care question for Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), asking her to respond to former Vice President Joe Biden's criticism of her support of Medicare for All. As expected, Harris defended her plan, and Biden was given a chance to say he believes "ObamaCare is working." But the two contenders were allowed to keep going back and forth, dominating a solid three minutes of the debate without CNN turning to any other candidates.
Right out of the gate, Biden and Harris engage on who has the better health care plan. #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/NvGVwEsZt6
— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) August 1, 2019
CNN did eventually pop in to break up the health care showdown, asking Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for their responses. But Harris' responses always brought up Biden, and The Washington Post's Ashley Parker suggests she had a good reason to do so.
"And I'm going to go back to Vice President Biden, here..." — Kamala Harris, who clearly thinks she has Biden on his heels and can use him to press her political advantage.
— Ashley Parker (@AshleyRParker) August 1, 2019
The health care debate ended up devolving into the same dichotomy as it had Tuesday night. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) insisted that Harris' plan would take private employer insurance away from employees and Harris said that wasn't true, much like how several contenders insisted Tuesday that Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) Medicare for All would take union benefits away from workers.