[Tapper:] Back here with our big brains here in Ohio. And Kirsten, we didn't get to you. You didn't get a chance to ask Senator Elizabeth Warren a question, but you're a Medicare for all supporter. What would you have asked her?
[Kirsten Powers, Cnn Senior Political Analyst:] I'd just like to know what she'd do, you know, if she won and there's still a Republican Senate and maybe some Democrats who maybe aren't that excited about Medicare for all? What would she do? Is there a Plan B? Is there would she take a half a loaf? I mean, this is I agree with her. This is a crisis in the health care system. But what's the backup plan, considering that it's such a contentious issue?
[Tapper:] Because they couldn't even get the public option through a Democratic Senate.
[Jess Mcintosh, Cnn Political Commentator:] Right. I think I think this is the part of the conversation, as we have this in-depth, in the weeds policy conversation that's great around Medicare for all that we're missing is that everything that the candidates are proposing right now are the starting points for an eventual negotiation. So when you see Amy Klobuchar talk about, well, we just need the public option, it's like, well, that's basically where we started in 2010. I I don't want to start back there. Why don't we start farther to the left, and then maybe we move slightly more to the center as as we have to deal with other Democrats and Republicans? I think people aren't trying to find a letter-perfect plan for health care. I think they're trying to find a leader that they trust to have the conversation with the right priorities in mind to get the final outcome after a lot of discussion.
[Gloria Borger, Cnn Chief Political Analyst:] So here's a question I have for Democrats, which would be, why aren't you talking about how Republicans are going to take away your pre-existing conditions, because that is so important to voters?
[Mcintosh:] Republicans are already so underwater on are you more or less trusted on health care or the economy that it's it almost goes without saying that Republicans want to take away your health care.
[Borger:] Well, I don't think it goes without saying.
[Mcintosh:] We should keep saying it. You're right.
[Borger:] I think you have to keep saying it.
[David Axelrod, Cnn Political Commentator:] Well, Democrats won the health care debate in 2018 by stressing the issues you're talking about. If the debate becomes whether or not you're going to eliminate private insurance, I think that the onus could shift. And I think that's what Republicans would like to do, is get the onus off of themselves for what they've done on health care. I will tell you, I was with Harry Reid, Senator Reid, over the weekend, did a show with him. And he knows Elizabeth Warren very, well, helped promote her career, recruited her for the Senate, put her in leadership.
[Borger:] Right.
[Axelrod:] He said she's far more pragmatic than people realize. And I predict that she will moderate on this issue. She will find some middle ground on this issue. That may be, but she was wasn't exactly letting on.
[Nia-malika Henderson, Cnn Political Correspondent:] The question is when does she do, right? Does she do it after she wins the general? I mean, after she wins the primary? Who knows if he's going to win the primary. Does she do it in a couple of months? She has talked about Medicare for all as a framework, so maybe there is some wiggle room. And we'll see. I mean, Bernie Sanders obviously wants to make this an issue. Pete Buttigieg wants to make this an issue, as well. I do want to get something in about Biden, though. I thought Biden's strongest moment in this debate was when he answered the age question. And he basically, I think, made the whole case for his candidacy, which is that he it sounds like a cliche, in some ways, but that he's ready on day one. His age is about wisdom, and sort of putting America back on track. And I thought that was a really good answer to that question. I think it's why people like him. And I think it's an issue for Pete Buttigieg. Right? His big struggle is going to be can people imagine a 37-year-old mayor in the White House in 2020? So I think that was a really strong suit for Biden, one of the strongest answers from tonight.
[John King, Cnn National Correspondent:] I think the weakest point, I think, overall, Joe Biden had a pretty strong debate. I think his weakest point, though, when Anderson Cooper asked him a direct question about now he says, you know, if I'm the president, my son Hunter will not be involved in any foreign business dealings. If that's the standard for a president, why wasn't it the standard when you were the vice president?
[Axelrod:] Right.
[King:] It was a perfectly fair question.
[Tapper:] He didn't answer it.
[King:] He just did not answer it. Back to the Warren point, I think we all have to remember, too, there are two tracks here. We're having a conversation about how the Republicans would use some of this in a general election. The first question is what do Democratic voters want? How much do these differences matter to Democrats? Their first answer, if you ask them, is we want to beat Trump. AS they answer that question 110 days from now in Iowa is the first contest do they process in Medicare for all, taxes to the middle class? Is the minutia that important to them? Or are they watching these debates to see who's the best boxer?
[Tapper:] Van, final take.
[Jones:] I mean, I just think that we've got an extraordinary progressive in Warren. And we have, right now, still, a mediocre moderate in Biden. What we don't have yet is an extraordinary moderate. And you saw Buttigieg trying to get there. You saw Klobuchar trying to get there. We need somebody, to really have this debate the right way, you've got to have two real heavyweights on both sides. Look, you know, Biden didn't do as badly as he has done. I still feel the air is coming out of Biden. I just don't see it. And so there is an opportunity. I thought Pete I thought tonight, we talked about a lot of people, we talked about a lot of stuff. I still think tonight was the night you saw Pete Buttigieg 2.0 passionate Pete, pistol Pete and you could see this thing shaping up as Warren versus Pete.
[Tapper:] Except, can I just say, Buttigieg, can he expand beyond white college-educated voters?
[Borger:] That's the big question.
[Tapper:] In that case. I'm told that's all the time we have. Thanks, one and all, for being here. Drinks are on Van. Keep watching. We're going to right now have an encore presentation of the CNN"New York Times" Democratic debate. Thanks so much for watching.