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 Analysts widely hailed Clinton, 67, as turning in a nimble,
effective performance on Tuesday night, perhaps easing the fears of
some Democrats fretting that the flap over her use of a private
email server while in the Obama administration was torpedoing her
candidacy for the November 2016 election.
In doing so, she may have dampened calls for Biden to make a belated
entrance into the race while also blunting the threat from insurgent
candidate Bernie Sanders, a 74-year-old U.S. senator from Vermont
and self-described democratic socialist.
“If you’re a Hillary supporter and you were worried for whatever
reason, you should feel very good about yourself,” said Rodell
Mollineau, a Democratic strategist who attended the televised debate
in Las Vegas. “This is the kind of debate that helps build
momentum.”
Sanders, Clinton’s top rival among declared candidates, was handed
the opportunity by debate moderators to assail her over the email
issue. Instead, he dismissed the controversy as trivial, drawing an
ovation from the crowd and shoving the spotlight away from Clinton’s
most profound political weakness.
 For Biden, 72, who continues to ponder a bid for the presidency, the
evening served as a reminder of how tenacious Clinton can be as a
candidate, steeled by scores of debates in her 2008 presidential run
and four years as secretary of state.
At times, Clinton seemed to be reaching out both to the progressives
in her party more likely to back Sanders and the moderates who may
prefer Biden.
She went toe-to-toe with Sanders over gun control, addressed income
inequality and advocated for more liberal family-leave policies.
At the same time, she refused to go along with Sanders’ call to
break up Wall Street banks, reiterated her support of the Patriot
Act, and said she would not hesitate to use military force if
necessary, at times obliquely criticizing President Barack Obama's
White House and, by proxy, Biden for failing to stand up to Russian
President Vladimir Putin and for doing too little about the civil
war in Syria.
Biden mentioned the debate in remarks to reporters on Wednesday but
gave no indication of whether he will enter the race.
"I thought every one of those folks last night. ... I thought they
all did well," he said after a speech in Washington about
transportation investment.
Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta said Biden needs to decide
now whether to run or not.
 "This debate has been joined. We're talking about different ideas
about how to take the country forward, how to improve and build upon
what President Obama has achieved. And if Vice President Biden wants
to enter and compete for the presidency then it is time for him to
make that decision," he told MSNBC.
The debate attracted a record 15.3 million viewers, host CNN said on
Wednesday, citing Nielsen data. That is the highest audience for a
Democratic presidential debate on cable news but is still lower than
the ratings for the Republicans' first two 2016 election debates
earlier this year.
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SANDERS' LIMITS
Tuesday's debate may also have exposed Sanders’ limitations. As a
candidate, he has made populist economic themes central to his
campaign, almost to the exclusion of other issues. His discomfort on
guns - his home state of Vermont is protective of gun rights - and
with foreign policy seemed evident. At one point, Sanders loudly
protested he is not a pacifist.
“He didn’t handle himself well on guns or on foreign policy,” said
Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist in Washington. “He seemed
flustered and defensive. Americans want someone calm and collected
when dealing with a crisis.”
Republican front-runner Donald Trump declared Clinton the winner of
the encounter, in part because the other Democrats did not put her
under much pressure.
“It was a very kind debate, very gentle. She came out the winner,"
Trump told ABC News.
But Clinton did give Republicans ammunition as she came out strongly
in favor of gun control and tighter regulation of banks, and brushed
off former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee's concerns about her
email use.
"Clinton’s record of hypocrisy and flip-flops on everything from
Wall Street, trade, immigration, and foreign policy was on full
display. Her unwillingness to fully explain the circumstances
surrounding her secret email server, and the ongoing FBI
investigation into it, further damages her credibility," Reince
Priebus, head of the Republican National Committee, said in a
statement.
Democratic hopeful Jim Webb, a former senator from Virginia, may
have delivered the most scathing indictment of Sanders’ candidacy,
telling him at one point in the debate, “Bernie, I don’t think the
revolution is going to come.”
Still, Sanders’ liberal base likely saw little to prompt a second
thought about supporting him. “It was a good night for him too,”
said Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign
Committee, who also praised Clinton.
She said the scrutiny of Sanders’ positions on guns and national
security demonstrated his viability as a top-tier candidate and
alternative to Clinton. “People were attacking him like he is the
front-runner.”
(This story has been refiled to add dropped title and full name of
Chafee in 19th paragraph)
(Additional reporting by Alistair Bell and Alana Wise; Editing by
Howard Goller and James Dalgleish)
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