Article snippet: It was the biggest presidential debate ever. All eyes weren’t on the 12 Democratic White House hopefuls on the Ohio stage, but rather focused on the front runners. Senator Elizabeth Warren came into Tuesday’s CNN/New York Times event leading in national and early state polls consistently for the first time. Former vice president Joe Biden was under pressure from President Trump over his son Hunter’s business dealings in China and Ukraine. And Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont was making one of his first campaign appearances since suffering a heart attack two weeks ago. Once the cameras turned on and the three hour debate began, it was fiery, especially when it came to health care and foreign policy. These grades are based on how each candidate did, including the substance and resonance of their responses, as well as whether they accomplished what they needed in the context of their campaigns. For example, success for Warren was different than success for Representative Tulsi Gabbard, who is among the candidates struggling to make the cut-off for next month’s debate. Here’s the scorecard for Tuesday: Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind. Grade: A This was the single best moment of Buttigieg’s campaign for president. He did well on guns, on impeachment, and particularly on Syria. Buttigieg had been making the argument that he is the centrist where moderate Democrats can go if Biden fails. That came through Tuesday night. In this debate, he added a new layer to... Link to the full article to read more