Article snippet: MIAMI — Front-runner MORE faltered in the Democratic presidential primary debate here Thursday evening, suffering some damage at the hands of rivals while also stumbling of his own accord. The former vice president hit particularly rocky ground when he was confronted by Sen. MORE (D-Calif.) on his recent warm words for two Southern segregationists of a previous era, the late Sens. James Eastland (D-Miss) and Herman Talmadge (D-Ga.). Harris also highlighted Biden’s past opposition to school busing. That exchange was the emotional high point to the two-hour debate, as Harris noted that she herself had been a beneficiary of busing as a child. She called Biden’s comments on the segregationist senators “hurtful.” Biden defended himself on a finer point, saying he opposed busing by the Department of Education, believing instead that the issue should be decided at a local level. But the exchange was not a good one for the former vice president — not least because of the visual dynamics of a 76-year-old white man appearing to lecture a black woman 22 years his junior. But that was not Biden’s only problem. At one point, he said the National Rifle Association was “not the enemy” — a bad choice of words for a Democratic primary electorate, even in the service of his broader argument that gun manufacturers were the main obstructors of new laws. He also defended his vote to give then-President George W. Bush the power to go to war in Iraq, arguing that Bush had abused that ... Link to the full article to read more