Easily the most raucous of the many the party has hosted so far, last night’s Democratic debate in Las Vegas will probably be written up by mainstream pundits with ample references to viral moments, one-liners, and iconic clashes between candidates — none of which anyone will remember a week from now. But behind all the drama and window dressing were fundamental questions about who should actually wield power and on whose behalf it should be exercised.

With Bernie Sanders leading in the polls ahead of this weekend’s critical Nevada caucus, and Michael Bloomberg starring in a rare moment of public accountability since entering the field, the polarity between the two, and the starkly opposing visions of politics each represents, was at the heart of the debate.

While it’s too early for anyone to pronounce the Democratic primary contest a two-person race, it’s now clear that Sanders is the candidate to beat, and that Bloomberg’s primary objective is to stop him by spending as much of his own money as possible. In various ways, every other candidate, from Pete Buttigieg to Elizabeth Warren, sought to pitch themselves as somewhere in an idealized middle, wherein a sensible compromise exists between the social-democratic populism championed by Sanders and the tyranny of wealth represented by Bloomberg (who faced well-deserved attacks from all sides and was predictably terrible throughout).