From painfully canned lines to paint-by-the-numbers tales of personal triumph in the face of adversity, last night’s Democratic debate in Detroit bore every hallmark of the genre. But amid scripted and focused-grouped flourishes (“wish list economics!”, “bold AND realistic!”, “Medicare for all . . . who want it!”, “not left and right but new and better!”), there was little doubt about one thing: the two candidates charting a more transformative and confrontational course for the Democratic Party, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, set the terms of the evening.

Despite media predictions of a clash between Warren and Sanders, their joint presence on the stage proved mutually reinforcing, polarizing issue after issue and compelling the remaining field of mostly centrist candidates to offer endless variations on the theme of “no.” Ironically, this meant more airtime for decidedly right-leaning figures like Johns Hickenlooper and Delaney, whose onslaughts against Sanders and Warren often left the likes of media darlings Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, and Beto O’Rourke sounding vague and unfocused.

CNN’s moderation of the debate only exacerbated this dynamic, with hosts (particularly Jake Tapper) grafting a conservative frame onto key questions surrounding healthcare and immigration. In theory, this should have aided the self-proclaimed moderates; in practice, it tended to reinforce the basic polarity between those treating the 2020 election as a political and moral crusade and those approaching it like an eighteen-month job interview for a position in upper management.