HOUSTON, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 12: Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) laugh during the Democratic Presidential Debate at Texas Southern University's Health and PE Center on September 12, 2019 in Houston, Texas. Ten Democratic presidential hopefuls were chosen from the larger field of candidates to participate in the debate hosted by ABC News in partnership with Univision. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Funniest one-liners from the ABC Democratic debate
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Editor’s Note: Todd Graham is the director of debate at Southern Illinois University. His debate teams have won five national championships and he has been recognized three times as the national debate coach of the year. Follow him on Twitter. The views expressed in this commentary belong solely to the author. View more opinion at CNN.

CNN  — 

The Democratic candidates’ debate in Houston Thursday night was easily the best 10-person debate I’ve witnessed. Let’s grade it, shall we?

Beto O’Rourke: A

By far his best debate yet. O’Rourke was powerful on gun control, with his “hell yes,” we’ll take your AR-15 answer about taking back assault weapons from gun owners. And his genuineness was evident, especially when discussing his experience in El Paso after the recent mass shooting.

Todd Graham

In these moments, O’Rourke did what I ask from my debaters: control the stage. Did you notice how the other candidates looked to him and praised him several times on his forceful reaction to the El Paso shootings? O’Rourke seemed to bloom in this spotlight and it served him well before a debate audience.

Elizabeth Warren: A-

Her answer on whether she’d bring the troops home from Afghanistan without a deal was strong, decisive and direct: “Yes.” Even if you disagree with her position, it was refreshing for a candidate to refuse to hedge on an answer.

Her policy positions were backed up with sound – and emphatic– reasoning, her personality shone and she had a winning amount of energy and confidence. After three debates – and it’s early yet – Senator Warren might just be the consistently best presidential debater I’ve evaluated.

Cory Booker: A-

Senator Booker’s answers on criminal justice reform, mass incarceration, corporate factory farming and environmental racism were on-point. Booker’s most clever use of language was to say that gun control was not a side issue for him, which demonstrated he’s reading the Democratic base well, since at least one recent poll put gun control just ahead of climate change for Democratic voters in advance of Thursday’s debate.

I’m dinging Booker a slight bit for his terrible attempt at forcing humor (something about Justin Trudeau’s hair). Plus, Booker’s defense of schools in Newark was incomplete without mentioning the itty-bitty help he had from one Mark Zuckerberg.

Joe Biden: B+

Sure, there were a few gaffes (he keeps elevating his opponents to “president”), and he had a few incomprehensible answers (it’s Biden). And once again he got tripped up when he was challenged to defend the high number of immigrant deportations under Barack Obama. The answer is so dang easy, Joe (it’s frustrating for a debate coach to watch him blunder it in every debate). Joe, say this: “We focused on new arrivals and people with criminal records.” Can somebody please send this answer to Biden?

As CNN notes: More than 10 million were removed or returned during the Bush administration. Far fewer – more than 5 million – were removed or returned during the Obama administration.

All this said, it was easily Biden’s best debate. He was better on the issues. And he took the offensive by demanding his opponents prove how they could realistically pay for their bold, but expensive ideas. But these issues took a back seat for me when evaluating Biden’s performance.

And Julian Castro might have actually helped Biden with his challenges on them. Here’s why: When he appeared to question Biden’s memory—quickly perceived as an ageist challenge to Biden’s competency– Castro looked like a jerk. And Biden drew on our empathy. Sometimes I coach my debate teams that it’s not about the argument, but it’s more what the judges think of you.

Fast forward toward the end of the debate when Biden was asked about setbacks. His answer was phenomenal. Biden spoke from the heart about his own father losing his job, but instead of asking for pity, Biden said, “…but there’s a lot of people been through a lot worse than I have who get up every single morning, put their feet one foot in front of another, without the help I had. There are real heroes out there. Some real heroes.”

It’s hard not to like him after hearing that.

Bernie Sanders: B

He was solid. From a debating standpoint, Sanders still makes some basic mistakes, like not talking into the microphone and facing his opponents, instead of the camera or the audience. And Thursday night his voice was hoarse, not helpful on a night when both Biden and Warren brought their full energy. But Sanders stayed true to his themes with policy specifics. He reminded us that even though Medicare for All may cost over $30 trillion, the status quo will cost us $50 trillion over the same time period, and that we spend twice as much per capita as Canadians.

Sanders didn’t bite when the moderator (Jorge Ramos of Univision) asked about socialism in Venezuela, saying that it’s not the same as his idea of democratic socialism. Later in the debate, Sanders looked right into the camera and said he would not be intimidated by the NRA, which played well for the friendly audience. He contrasted himself nicely with Biden on NAFTA, which scored even more points, and when on the subject of never-ending wars, Sanders’ response that we “don’t even know who our enemy is” made perfect sense.

Pete Buttigieg: B-

Mayor Pete got lost in this debate with a slow start. He didn’t get a lot of speaking time, and at first, failed to take advantage of it when he did. However, Buttigieg—who presents his ideas thoughtfully– simply doesn’t have many “bad” answers, and he was a better back-half debater than most of the candidates. Buttigieg likely struck a chord with many with his answer about the setbacks he faced as he described coming out, how he was “not interested in not knowing what it was like to be in love any longer…”

Kamala Harris: C+

Harris was the candidate who attacked Trump most vigorously– and continually. On the El Paso massacre, she suggested that “he didn’t pull the trigger, but he certainly has been tweeting out the ammunition.” She also asserted that Trump had a “fragile ego.”

Like Buttigieg, Harris was a better debater in the last half of the debate, having mostly disappeared in the top half. However, her answers about taking executive action to ban guns were questionable (Biden has said they were unconstitutional), and her attempt at humor directed at Donald Trump—that he was, like Oz, a “small dude” hiding behind a curtain—backfired when we looked up and realized she said it directly to George Stephanopoulos, who happens to be short in stature. (“I’m not even gonna take the bait, Senator Harris,” he remarked, good-naturedly.) Oof.

Andrew Yang: D

In this debate, Yang began with the announcement that he would give away $1,000 to 10 randomly selected families as part of a pilot program for his universal basic income plan, which I thought was a bribe too far (I’m already busy trying to win my HGTV dream home, so I don’t have time to start a new email lottery.)

After that, Yang appeared to forget his whole dang platform. What he needed to do instead, was to justify, with evidence– as he did in the previous debate–how his $1,000-per-month-per-family idea will solve problems. As my old debate coach would say, Yang forgot his major premise. Finally, he went a bit far with the stereotype: “Now I am Asian, so I know a lot of doctors.” Ugh.

Amy Klobuchar: F

I’m sorry, too many canned lines. Examples include, “Houston we have a problem,” and Trump treating farmers like “poker chips in one of his bankrupt casinos.” And finally, describing her plan to deal with the climate crisis, she (in an attempt to be clever) ended with: “On day seven you are supposed to rest, but I won’t.” I tell you what needs a rest: Her attempt at humor.

Mostly, Klobuchar had a forgettable debate, and by that I mean she didn’t leave anyone with any takeaways. How are her policy ideas contrasted from the other presidential hopefuls? Why should she be elected over anyone else on stage?

Based on the debate, I’m not sure. And that’s spells trouble for Klobuchar.

Julian Castro: F

Oy. From a debating standpoint, his manner, in appearing to question Biden’s memory during a discussion of Biden’s “Medicare for Choice” proposal, was a loser– an insult to every aging person watching. Even if Biden had misspoken (he didn’t, it turned out) – even if he, like any normal person, had forgotten the exact language he’d used (and he didn’t, fact-checkers reported) – I, and anyone with a conscience watching, don’t care.

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    Castro’s demeaning tone and attitude are exactly what I coach my debaters to never ever do. He made himself dislikeable. And what arrogance Castro displayed to follow up with “I’m fulfilling the legacy of Barack Obama and you are not.” Not great. My guess is that’s the end for Castro.