President ial debate. Lets go to David Axelrod first. Youre a former Senior Adviser to president obama. What do you think did Hillary Clinton, some pundits are suggesting, did she miss an opportunity tonight to stand out given her experience as a secretary of state . You know, it was interesting to me, normally shes being attacked for being too political. I think in this moment she was really thinking like a person who might become president of the United States. She was very tempered in her answers because of that. It may have been in the short run not to her political benefit, but it may be to her credit in the long run that she took that posture. She was a member of this administrati administration, as you know. She was walking a fine line trying to distance herself to a certain degree from president obama saying that, using the line that isis cannot be contained. It must be defeated. Thats a direct reference to the president. Saying that isis was contained. And also pointing out that early on in syria she said we needed to she said, i said we needed to train and equip the moderates. So distancing herself a bit. I think it was difficult for her. I would call her subdued in a way in which i expected her to be more assertive. Malika henderson, was Bernie Sanders statement that Climate Change represents the Major National security threat, given whats going on in paris the past 24, 48 hours, was that a mistake . Well, you know, he was essentially reiterating what he said in the previous debate. It is a different time now. Paris obviously hanging very heavily over this debate tonight. And you imagine that most americans when they think about isis and when they think about threats to the homeland and to their families, theyre not necessarily thinking about Climate Change. But in that instance, i do think he was kind of showing that when it comes to Foreign Policy and the kind of hawkish tone that some want to hear even from democrats, that hes not necessarily going to give that to democrats. Did he feel comfortable from your perspective, jeff zeleny, Bernie Sanders, going toe to toe if you will with Hillary Clinton on National SecurityForeign Policy . Theres no question that that is not his wheelhouse. Thats not why Bernie Sanders is in this president ial race. The interesting thing about president ial campaigns, often they end on topics different from the ones that they begin with. We saw it in the 2008 campaign. So you have to be comfortable with everything. I thought he was comfortable enough. Hes able to say that he voted against the iraq war. But its clear that he has not spent nearly as much time thinking about that as some of the financial things. On the wall street area, thats where he shined a little bit more. That is why hes running. You know, thats not the central challenge right ahead of us at this moment as weve seen in the last 24 hours in paris. She got into an Extensive Exchange with Bernie Sanders on the whole issue of wall street, the funding shes received over the years from big wall street bankers among others. Listen to this exchange she had with the senator. This Campaign Contribution will not influence me. Im going to be independent. But why do they make millions of dollars of Campaign Contributions . They expect to get something, Everybody Knows that. Once again, i am running a campaign differently than any other candidate. We are relaying on Small Campaign donors, 750,000, 30 apiece. Thats why im indebted john, wait a minute. Wait a minute. [ applause ] person of privilege, john. [ all talking at once ] he used his answer to impugn my integrity. Lets be frank here. No wait a minute, senator. You know, not only do i have hundreds of thousands of donors, most of them small, and im very proud that for the first time a majority of my donors are women 60 [ cheers ] so i represented new york, and i represented new york on 9 11. When we were attacked, where were we attacked . We were attacked in Downtown Manhattan where wall street is. I did spend a whole lot of time and effort helping them rebuild. That was good for new york, it was good for the economy. And it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country. [ applause ] paul, you work, you support a proHillary Clinton super pac. You obviously want Hillary Clinton to be the democratic nominee and the next president of the United States. Shes already getting criticism here, as well, for invoking 9 11 to justify her support for some certain wall street bankers. There wasnt any senator sanders needs close the loop. He says, you got donations, he doesnt point to a vote. He doesnt say heres one of the things you did wrong. President obama pointed at the iraq war vote. Specific vote. He didnt allege it was because of Campaign Contributions, he said it was wrong. Senator sanders doesnt have the punch after the setup. Hes like, well, you took wall street money. Shes like, yeah, what did i do . I helped them recover after the war, i i also have a proposal which she claims rightly that paul krugman, the Nobel Prize Winning columnist for the New York Times praised. Hes got to have something there from the left. He cant say wall street is bad and you represented new york, therefore, well, what . S. E. Culpp, do you agree . That was a strange pivot. Shes getting flack for invoking 9 11. Even if you follow the bread crumbs wherever she was going, it was a strange thing to bring up. I will say, however, that i think at large and especially in the room, i think she won the debate on banking which is shocking. She came into this night with the Natural Advantage on Foreign Policy. She was really expected to look president ial next to Bernie Sanders. What she didnt expect was that omalley would swing at her from the right on Foreign Policy. Putting her between bernie on the left, martin on the right. She was really in a defensive crouch for that entire Foreign Policy conversation. I actually thought she looked best when she was talking about banking, that one moment notwithstanding. Was that her best moment, peter . Yeah, i thought she also did well on gun control. I think this answer on 9 11 is going to one thats going to resonate. I would be surprised if she repeats it. I think it plays into the stereotypes, the negative stereotypes people have. It was a canned political answer. And it reminds democrat of just what they dont like about republicans which is bringing up 9 11 in order to justify thing that cant be justified in other ways. Patty, youre a former Hillary Clinton campaign manager. Was that a rehearsed statement . Do you think she came in to this debate tonight knowing Bernie Sanders was going to go after her on her contacts, her connections to wall street, and she had this answer ready . I agree with s. E. Oddly enough. I think she won the debate on beeg. I think the 9 11 on banking. I think the nevin reference was better used when she was talking about terrorism. She was senator when the 9 11 attacks happened. She was the senator when we needed to rebuild that city. It would have been more powerful talking about terrorism. I think we have a clip about Bernie Sanders. He got lively tonight going after Hillary Clinton on several issues including her vote back at the end of 2002 in favor of going war against Saddam Hussein in iraq. Listen to this. Let me have one area of disagreement with the secretary. I think she said Something Like the bulk of the responsibility is not ours. Well, in fact, i would argue that the disastrous invasion of iraq, something that i strongly oppose, has unraveled the region completely and led to the rise of al qaeda and to isis. David actionle r lle axle axelrod, hes blaming that vote for all the trouble of isis today. Theres a case to be made that the war in iraq has led to disastrous consequences. I thought she was prepared for that answer by pointing out that 9 11 happened before the war in iraq. A lot of terrorism happened attacks on us happened before 9 11. And so to make that connection is not a good answer to the threat of today. So i i just want to agree with what peter said on the earlier point about the 9 11 answer as a way of justifying support for wall street. I thought that was her one really false note in this whole debate. I said earlier, sometimes shes accused of being too political. That is an example of her being too did it sound overy rehearsed . No doubt. She knew about the banking and was prepared for it. That clearly was part that she had prepared. That was a fault note that shouldnt have been included. I think that was something someone came one for her, and she used it. It fell flat. When you talk about someone wanting to be authentic it didnt sound which Bernie Sanders is, by the way. He is. He had a gate for his supporters a good night for his supporters. He is authentic. Shes authentically watching video of the worst terror attack in years. Of course its on her mind. I completely disagree. Im not privy. I dont coordinate with her campaign. I completely disagree. Paul, why did she why did she use because of the relationship to terrorism, it would have made sense. I understand that, but using it as a way to justify look, she has a Traditional Alliance with wall street. Maybe its because she was senator of new york, her husband also had good support from wall street. And you know, so it just seemed like an unnecessary point hold on for a moment. Bernie sanders then came back and said, well, youre right. We all appreciate what you did for new york on 9 11. I mean, it was a little manipulative. This is our senior correspondent, briana keilar, is in des moines in the socalled spin room there where all the activists come to explain why their respective candidates won. Are they do something cleanup now, the Hillary Clinton campaign o this specific issue . Her use of 9 11 to justify the support shes apparently given, if you listen to Bernie Sanders, to wall street . Reporter they are, wolf. Her communications director, jen pa palmieri, working the room behind me. This is the shieses tackling. The campaign was aware this was the weak spot for her. Palmieri saying that Hillary Clinton was trying to explain why shes had some favor from wall street. And basically just that she was proud to stand with the wall Street Community following 9 11. Of course, thats not exactly how it came out of Hillary Clintons mouth when she was explaining this. And i think theres an awareness by the campaign that there was some awkwardness on that. Certainly as we see some of the criticism following what she said. Of course, one of the other issues i think that is getting a lot of buzz has to do with her comment about being from the 60s and it being a long time ago. This was something that made a lot of eyebrows in des moines raise. If she is to run in the general election, assuming she is the nominee against, say, a younger republican, the expectation all along is that they would run a generational argument against her. Certainly that is a campaign ad in the making, something people were zeroing in on. Cleanup on the comment on 9 11 and realization that it did not go over as she intended. It didnt go over well. The three president ial candidates, are they in the spin room . Are they talking to reporters . Are they making their case, or have they gone home . Reporter you know, from what i see, i dont think we have any of the candidates in the room. I cant tell you exactly. I wouldnt be surprised if we didnt see Martin Omalley here. Im not sure that were going to see Bernie Sanders. I expect that we wont. Of course, thats possible, that can change. We saw in the debate in las vegas. I think there was an expectation he might not come in. Then he did come in. I dont think were expecting Hillary Clinton here if past is prologue. She probably wont come into the spin room. Well get back to you. Youll stay in close touch with us. I want to, meantime, play another excerpt. Heres senator Bernie Sanders continuing to go after Hillary Clinton on this whole issue of wall street. So i want to look at the whole problem, and thats why my proposal is much more comprehensive than anything else that ben put forth. Youve said that the donations to secretary clinton are compromising. What but think of her answer . Not good enough. [ applause ] not good enough. Almost sounds like larry david over there. It is becoming sort of comical there. Look, that is why this democratic populous base, all the energy in the party is behind him for issues like this. They love it when hes like he is authentic. I thought this was a strong moment for him there. At the end of theday, you know, i think just events over last 24 hours in paris, other things. Democrats are also looking at who is the sort of leader on the big picture here. Im still not sure that Bernie Sanders has filled in all those gaps here. The democrats who were watching that, it was Iowa Democrats who start this in less than three months, those New Hampshire primary voters. Bernie sanders still has at least 1 3 to 40 of the party with him, no question. Peter, go ahead. I think i say this as a liberal. I would be concerned as a democrat about the entire terrorism part of this debate. The republican line, whatever you think about it, is very clear. Its that we left iraq, the terrorists filled the vacuum. Weve retreated from the world. Now theyre going after us. I would be darned to listen to all three candidates and discern a clear democratic line of how youre going to fight terrorism. They were very vague, very nonspecific. And i think they have a lot of work to do. If terrorism is going to be a major issue in this election, the polls show people trust republicans on it, theyre going to have to do better. And there was a good five, eightminute section where the three of them sort of parsed words over words. What they would call the threat. Was it radical jihadism, was it islamic extremism. No one really came out. I think if youre a voter at home, this is very frightening to see three democrats not even sure of what to call it. If youre just sitting at home, you want someone up there whose whos president ial, whos not afraid to say the unpopular thing, and is going to be tougher on terrorism than they are afraid of political correctness. [ all talking at once ] doesnt necessarily mean saying the popular thing. I thought this was a good moment for hillary when she explained that if you want to have influence in the region and work with countries in the region, you have to be mindful of the language that you use. Thats how president s have to think. Candidates dont have to think that way. Certainly the republican candidates arent thinking that way. I dont think voters understand that nuance, though, david. No. But that youre talking about elections and saying shes not being president ial. Im saying shes being president ial even at the cost perhaps of some scoring gloria, like president obama, the three democratic president ial candidates, they dont use the phrase islamic terrorism. They dont. And so it was jihadism, radical jihadism, and it went around and around on it. Also what we didnt hear tonight is a debate you hear within the Republican Party on immigration and on syrian refugee, for example. There was no questioning aside from Hillary Clinton saying you have to vet refugee, et cetera, et cetera. This is going to be a big issue now among republicans. The question of letting in syrians into this country, particularly given whats going on in the working assumption, jeff zeleny, youve covered these races, that the more the National Security threat goes up, the better it potentially is for republicans. Not necessarily because who is the republican nominee going to be here . That is the big question here. Theres no question that hillary that since she was a part of this administration, she own the Obama Administrations legacy on foreign affairs. It does not look nearly as good as it looked when bin laden was killed. She said that was one of her moment. That seems like so long ago. The new current threats, she is going to have to own those in a general election setting. Elections are comparative things. Who is she running against . If shes running against a marco rubio, for example, he does not have as much experience as her. If shes running against a jeb bush, he has some more experience, so shes still the more experienced one. I do think think republicans necessarily i do not think republicans necessarily have the upper hand. The Obama Administration is leaving in a much different place than they thought they would be. Because of the