David Axelrod

It is a very, very taxing difficult enterprise to try and run for president as an independent.

I think authenticity is a leading indicator for presidential candidates and obviously this has been something that has challenged her in the past.

If she were to lose both, I still think she wins the nomination.

He's designating himself as the nominee of the party.

Chris Christie has the ability to define this race by doing well in New Hampshire.

If you hold the candidate to sort of the fact check and linear thinking test, Donald Trump would never do well in these debates.

It's noteworthy that in Iowa the most strident anti-immigration voice in the whole United States Congress, Steve King, who has a lot of leverage in that particular caucus, has endorsed Ted Cruz.

There's just a glut of them, and the endorsement of the Manchester Union leader, of Chris Christie, has given him some energy.

The irony of all of this is the Republican establishment that loads Ted Cruz may be stuck with him as their best alternative against Donald Trump.

Every time Trump gets attacked he becomes stronger with the anti-establishment core of the Republican Party.

Nothing that happened tonight would increase their enthusiasm.

One of the reasons why Marco Rubio is getting a lot of chatter among Republicans right now is he is one of the few guys who has a favorable rating among both factions of the Republican Party.

I think that a little noted but very important factor was Jim Clyburn's comments because part of the Biden strategy as I understand stood it was to see Hillary stumble in Iowa and New Hampshire, perhaps losing one to Sanders, Biden hanging…

I do think time is running out. I think that people's patience are being tested here.

I think most of the scenario that is we have discussed, she has been through several times in a run through.

I think they'll do it, but they will do it in a subtle way and talk about their own consistency and they need to be consistent.

For Democrats and broadcasters, Donald Trump is the gift that keeps on giving.

She will have the facts. She will have the arguments. She needs to insert a little poetry and give person a reason to believe.

I think that is - and not just the crowd but Democrats in the country.

I think the other candidates have to tread lightly in raising those issues at this debate.

I think she did very, very well. I said before the debate that if president elections were decathlons, this was her event. Think she showed why. She was poised. She was passionate. And I think she was in command.

I think he has the easiest test to be honest with you because so many democrats haven't yet heard directly from him and so this is a chance to -- for him to amplify his message on a much larger stage.

She needs to be real, she needs to give people a sense to believe that all this policy papers add up to something in terms of her belief about where the country can go.

If you are some of these candidates, you don't go after Trump, you basically just try to use the limited amount of time you're going to get when there's 11 candidates on the stage to have one or two memorable lines to describe who you are.

It's important to remember that four years ago at this time that Rick Perry was the Republican front-runner.