Depict what we just saw. Thats not what we saw n. Form current host of deadline white house, 4 00 p. M. Eastern time unless theres something i dont know, clare mccaskill. Former democratic senator from missouri. Jason johnson, politics editor, professor at morgan state. Lawrence odonnell, host of the last word 10 00 p. M. Eastern weeknights on this networks in the spin room in las vegas. Chris matthews at the big board, of course, steve kornacki. Nicole . I think a lot i had the job for a long time of running into the spin room and explaining why my candidate won. Its a dubious craft. Tonight more than ever. I think almost all these candidates have make a claim to having an important night in terms of what theyre trying to achieve. I think if you were waiting for biden to be as focussed and in command as he was tonight, you finally got it. If you wanted Pete Buttigieg to show a National Audience why he won iowa, you got it. If you are one of the millions of people who has sort of thrust Bernie Sanders to the top of the national polls, you saw what you love about Bernie Sanders. If you love Amy Klobuchar, you saw her defend herself and fight, and if youre an Elizabeth Warren fan who wondered why she dipped in the polls, i think you saw all the fight come back in here. I think what was hanging over this was the introduction of Michael Bloomberg in the race. Michael bloombergs campaign doesnt really rely on the debates but he has to go through them to get beyond them. I think people will have analysis about bloomberg, everything from hes disqualified to he sort of stood apart and it may not matter. I think what we learned in 2016 is what we say and think matters a whole lot less than what it felt like in the room and what the democratic primary voters in nevada think about what they saw on the stage. We along with you witnessed a moment, lets call it between biden and bernie on stage. Last time this happened on a debate stage, the host network did, indeed, have audio of both participants. We are reracking to see if we can tell what was just said. Claire mccaskill, your interpretation . Of the free form evening we just witnessed. It was a little bit like a president ial version of survivor. There was a lot of punches. And counter punches. You can tell they the stakes have been ratcheted up. There are candidates that were on that stage tonight that know they wont be around in 30 days. Maybe ten. Maybe ten. Maybe after super tuesday. So tonight was a big, big night, and it showed. I thought Elizabeth Warren came out swinging, and landed some significant punches on Michael Bloomberg. I dont mean literally, obviously, but figuratively. She was certainly lived up to her moniker of fighter tonight. I thought she had a strong debate performance. I thought mayor pete did very well tonight, and i thought joe biden had one of his better debates. This has not been his moment, these debates. I do think that i was disappointed that we didnt have any discussion about the rule of law being systemically dismantled in our country. Thats what is on my mind. I think its on a lot of peoples mind, and the circular firing squad, theres a danger. There wasnt enough pivoting to talk about the real problem, donald trump. And will we get through this . Yes. Will the democrats still unify . I believe we will, but this kind of debate makes it tougher. Im glad you raised the rule of law. Were sitting in a moment where this is the eve of the roger stone sentence. And theres a lot of speculation in washington on the right and on the left that donald trump is contemplating and aware of his power to pardon. So i am i share your dismay and i found it disconcerting that in a moment where trump is to punish the Civil Servants to testified in the impeachment, again, freeing felons. For corrupt people. Mr. I hate corruption. Im surprised it didnt come up. The big new name was going to be Michael Bloomberg. This was probably the most expensive night in vegas ive ever seen. He lost everything. Hes spent 320 million. He had the opportunity to stand on page and appear to be an equal, and he looked bored. He looked disenchanted. He stumbled over obvious questions that anybody would have anticipated about Sexual Harassment and stop and frisk. I thought it was a bad night for him. Hes probably doubling the salaries of his staff that are going into the spin room. I wouldnt want to defend him after the night he had. As far as unity, the most critical question tonight was when the moderator asked if someone has the delegates but doesnt hit the threshold, does that make them the nominee . Everybody said no but Bernie Sanders. I think these candidates are going to continue fighting forward. Theyre not necessarily going to fall in line because bernie is in the lead. I think this is going to a long and hopefully productive campaign. We know how the candidates roll and their friends and family. In settings like this. Thats diana taylor next to Michael Bloomberg who has been a partner of his for many years. He mentioned her though not by name just yesterday. Lawrence odonnell, and then were going to swing down to Chris Matthews. Lawrence, im tempted to ask who is going to tell them they have to run against donald trump in a few months. Theyre going to get there. And there was some running against donald trump tonight, but obviously there was a lot of running against Michael Bloomberg. And Michael Bloomberg did have some strong moments. But he had he suffered the worst blows on that stage. The nondisclosure agreement round that Elizabeth Warren opened up on him and the women and others in his company with nda settlements, joe biden and Elizabeth Warren double teaming Michael Bloomberg saying release them right now on tv from their obligation not to disclose, and Michael Bloomberg absolutely wasnt ready for that at all. On the other hand, and by the way, on the Bernie Sanders thing about he thinks the person with the most delegates even if it isnt enough to lock up the nomination should get the nomination, that is exactly opposite of the Bernie Sanders position of four years ago. When someone else he believed was going to go into that convention with the most delegates. Thats always a position of convenience and always has been. The most fascinating thing that happened on the stage our viewers at msnbc got to see during a commercial break in a box on the screen, and that was after Elizabeth Warren just flattened Michael Bloomberg a number of of times, Michael Bloomberg and Elizabeth Warren spent the entire commercial break in very cordial conversation with each other that was real. They werent doing that stiff thing of turning away from each other. They were exchanging ideas. If theres audio of anything, that would be really fascinating to hear. And im sure they will give us their version of what that conversation was, because it was it had absolutely nothing to do with Everything Else you saw on tv during the actual debate. Chris matthews, i want to remind everybody how it started off. What lawrence is referencing between Elizabeth Warren and Michael Bloomberg. Well go down to chris after that. Id like to talk about who were running against. A billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse faced lesbians. And no, im not talking about donald trump. Im talking about mayor bloomberg. So thats how they got underway tonight. They brought hay makers for the first round. Chris matthews, youre at the venue watching along with us. Right. In las vegas. What did you make of it . Well, i never saw anything like it. It was the roman coliseum. It was boxing in the 1950s. You wait for the other guy to get a cut over their eye, and then you keep punching the cut over their eye over and over and over again. Thats what they did to bloomberg. Thats what Elizabeth Warren did to Michael Bloomberg. She knew his weakness was the nda, and she kept punching the spot, and it kept bleeding and bleeding. He had no way to stop it. He didnt have a cut man. He should have had somebody before tonight, this is what theyre going to hit you on and keep hitting you until you answer release the women or something. I think thats what it was about tonight. What we saw is also Elizabeth Warren who was really doing the punching. She came back tonight, i think shes fought herself back into third place, maybe better, make second out here. I think shes probably disappointed she wasnt tougher in New Hampshire. Everybody said that she wasnt the fighter. She was the fighter tonight. I believe she hit every other single candidate. I dont know if she made her way to biden. If not, its because she didnt think it was worth it. She hit every other candidate really hard. He has to get her position back in the top tier. I thought buttigieg would not lay up on klobuchar. He wouldnt lay up on the fact she didnt know the president of mexico. He kept punching her wound over and over again. It was the boxing match in which nobody pulled back and said enough. And nobody clenched. Everybody kept fighting. Ill tell you i think trump probably likes the look of it. Im not sure he right. On first few it looks awful and bloody. Circular firing squad. But maybe what we saw was a lot of passion. And maybe that passion is going to get through. But theres only one candidate who believes hes going to have the most delegates going into milwaukee, and we know who it was. The guy that said that person should be the winner. Everybody else said i will not have the most delegates. They all made it official. They were not going to give the win to the person with the most delegates. That was so telling tonight. Today it was an acknowledgment that bernie is the winner, not the winner, the winner so far in this whole fight. And he may be the winner all the way. I think they think so. Ive been told despite the fact that both men were wearing their microphones, we dont have audio of the moment we referenced at the top of our coverage here. And in all fairness, we shouldnt. Its the commercial break. They were having a conversation. It was after the debate, yeah. Im glad the audio doesnt exist, but we can ask them about it. Its quite a striking image of the two of them after this incredible one on one battle that was going on. Katy tur watched at something of a viewing party with some voters out there in las vegas. Katy . Brian, this is the first majority minority state, the first state where a large block of minority voters will get to have their say. I watched with voto latino. A number of voters voting for the first time including mollette. You came in undecided. Watching the debate did something change your mind . Um, for the most part watching this debate, i just really kept my mind open to what all the candidates were saying, but for now im undecided and Still Deciding on which candidate holds any values. Do you have a candidate youre leaning toward . Not necessarily right now. Im still looking around. Still listening to everyones points and values. So to make sure they have you have a few days to make a decision. Will you make one before saturday . Hopefully i will, yeah. Whichever candidate holds any values. Mollette, thank you. I have a couple other voters. This is not their first time voting. This is natalie and tasha. Youre in your mid to late 20s. You came in knowing who you liked. I voted for Bernie Sanders. I believe in his policies. Medicare for all. His stances on climate issues. And then also just the morals and virtues of his campaign. There was a moment where Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar kind of got into it at the end of the debate, and there was a big reaction from the crowd here. Both of them are coming into this state with some momentum. But not a lot of minority support. Would you consider supporting them . Would you change your mind Going Forward . No, i think ive been strong in my choice. Or at least my top two choices. Ive caucused previously for a candidate, and i dont think that pete or amy had the strength Going Forward in this debate. Many people say they changed their mind during debates when they watch them. Was your mind swayed at all by what you saw tonight . I think if youve watched the last few debates, a lot of the same narrative has been spoken throughout the debates so no, i dont think that anything has been said to change my mind. Thank you both very much. Guys, a lot of them came in liking Bernie Sanders. A majority of people ive talked to said Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, number two. The young people at least in here have mostly made up their minds. All right. Katy tur in las vegas. With us live, post debate coverage is former Vice President joe biden of delaware. Mr. Vice president , first off how did you think tonight went and second, talk about this as a showing for the party. Things like debating whether or not there should be billionaires in the United States. Well, i think what it did was showed a little bit about whether or not Michael Bloomberg was really a democrat. I mean, the basic values he has. Hes a good guy, but the basic values are basically republican. It also exposed the fact that these ads hes running and he and obama were such good buddies, he didnt support obama. He didnt support the Affordable Care act. He didnt support the vast majority of what we tended to do including on wall street. So i think this idea, this all the ads, hundreds of millions of dollars of ads about he and barack are not accurate. And i think what it did is also pointed out that with regard to health care, theres an overwhelming need to do something thats rational and bernie still hasnt answered the question. How much is it going to cost . Whos going to pay for it . He talks about the savings. In vermont they passed the affordable medicare for all. It doubled the income tax of the state. It put a 14 tax on withholding tax. And they got rid of it. The idea that this can be done quickly is simply not true. Simply not true. And with regard to immigration, the fact is that bernie did vote against the bill in 2007. Had it passed, it would have already there would already be six million undocumented citizens. He said its because it was viewed as slavery. Teddy kennedy voted for that bill. Barack obama voted for that bill. Hillary clinton voted for that bill. I voted for that bill. The idea that we voted for slavery is bizarre. Six Million People would already be citizens. And my last point i want to make is that theres a lot coming out now that we knew before. And pointing out that bernies desire to primary barack in 2012, barack should be primaried in 2012. This idea that this is a Unity Democratic Party was simply not the case. And so theres a lot that people are beginning to learn and last point ill make, brian is that ive been in the lead for the vast majority of the time, understandably, the target has been on my back. Ive been vetted 60 days from wednesday. Im not complaining. Never complain, never explain. Ive been vetted and im still in good shape, and what now is going to happen is bernie is going to get vetted the way he never has been before. You saw mike getting vetted in a way that he never thought he was going to have happen. So i just think theres a lot tonight that came out that warranted coming out. Lets shift the focus ahead to South Carolina. How are you going to do there . Is there any other place but first for you there . And who gets the clyburn endorsement . I think i get the clyburn endorsement. Well soon find out. I think were going to see i do very well there. And whether i have to be number one or that remains to be seen. We go right into super tuesday. I have more African American support than anybody running on any spectrum of the Democratic Party. Because they know my heart and where ive been and who i am. I feel very good about it. And so we move into states where the polling data shows and msnbcs polling data shows that i am likely to be able to be the winner. Were going to be able to win in i think i can help candidates win for the senate in North Carolina, in arizona, clearly in pennsylvania and in michigan and in states we have to win. Im ahead of trump by eight points in these states and i cant imagine all those front line folks who went in for that in purple districts, i went into 24 states, campaigned for 65 candidates. We wont 41 seats. The vast majority of those people have asked me to theyve come and endorsed me. They want me on the ticket. Im feeling good about where this goes from here. Final question, mr. Vice president. Im sitting here with Nicole Wallace who asked a version of this question when you were last on her broadcast and perhaps its symmetry. The two of us covered the live impeachment hearings out of this studio where we heard your name invoked sometimes several times per minute. Of course, in politics you dont get rewarded f