After Democrats clashed in 2 nights of debates, it's about who won, and who survived

The introductions are over. Now comes the winnowing.

Fresh off the first Democratic debates, which featured 20 candidates split over two nights in Miami, leading contenders includingSenators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris seemed to havekept pace behind Joe Biden, the former U.S. vice-president and top-polling candidate to lead the party into the late-2020 presidential election.

Theback-to-backshowdowns on a performing arts centre stage in the Florida citytilted to the left, and at times seemed to play out like contests of "wokeness" who could be the most on top of issues of social injustice.

While top-tier candidates solidified their status over both nights, thedebates also served as possible clarifying moments for better or worse for fringe contenders desperate for visibility.

Biden, for his part, fendedoff digs at his generational disconnectas a 76-year-oldand deflectedchallenges to hisself-portrayal as a civil-rights champion.

In a tense exchange, Harrisforced Biden to answer for his friendshipswith segregationist lawmakers and the former vice-president'spast opposition to 1970s desegregation school busing.

"There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public school," Harris said, turning to Biden. "And she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me." (Within minutes, Harris's social-media team retweeted her quote with a photo of the candidate as a pigtailed schoolgirl.)

In another memorable moment, California Congressman Eric Swalwell twice urged Biden reciting Biden'sown words to "pass the torch" to new leadership.

"Biden was the 800-pound gorilla in the room, and look, he should have expected to take a lot of shots," Colin Strother, an Austin-based Democratic strategist, said in an interview. "He was not prepared. And he definitely had a rough night."

Harris grills Biden on segregation

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California Sen. Kamala Harris challenges former vice-president Joe Biden on his previous positions on segregation.

In a moment interpreted by some as a metaphor for his candidacy, Biden stopped mid-speech to acknowledge, "My time's up."

Democratic strategist Rebecca Katz, who attended both debates in Miami, was unequivocal about who made the biggest impression to progressives on the stage.

"There's no question that the winners of the debates are Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris. They dominated their nights. They showed what a president looks like. And they also showed, most importantly, that either one of them can go toe to toe with Donald Trump, and beat him," Katz said about the Republican president.

Both nights, candidates played up their own progressive credentials while shooting down those of their fellow candidates.

While Colorado Sen.Michael Bennett attacked Sanders about his Medicare For Allbill, New York Sen.Kirsten Gillibrand interjected to claim credit for writing a transition plan in the proposed leglislationbeing pushed by theVermont senator.

When Hawaii CongresswomanTulsi Gabbard on Wednesday spoke about her support for the Equality Act, which extends civil rights protections to LGBTQ Americans, New Jersey Sen.Cory Booker interjected to say that was "not enough," citing the need to protect black transgender Americans vulnerable to violence.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren on PACs

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren says she would go after the big fundraisers who carry so much power in Washington.

Those statements and attempts at differentiation worked to makean impression in a crowded, diverse field that has not shied away from beingboldly progressive.

But the big question afterthe first debates of the primary season isn't just who's leading, but who will last until the next round.

The culling on Thursday will likely start with long-shot candidates like author and spiritual teacherMarianne Williamson, who closed by vowing to "harness love for political purposes," and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang, who spoke the least during the debate.

Julian Castro on abortion rights

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Former secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro on how he would fight to uphold access to abortion in the U.S.

Katz said: "I don't see how [former Coloradogovernor] John Hickenlooper continues after this. His campaign was already on life support. He needed a breakthrough. And I think it will be uphill for Gillibrand."

Strotheranticipates the sun is also setting on the campaigns of Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan andMaryland's former congressman John Delaney, who both debated Wednesday.

The first debate of the primary season allows voters to imagine how a candidate would squareoff on a stage against Trump in next year's general election.

Another goalpost is to simply get noticed andmake the cutoff to qualify for the debate in July.

The track already appears to be set for Warren. The brainy Massachusetts senator and anti-Wall Street crusader answered each moderator's question head-on, and flexed her policy know-how easily within the 60-second time limits.

"She dominated the discussion. Even the questions were shaped by what her campaign had done, and what her plans were," Katz said. "Of all the candidates on Wednesday night, she was the most comfortable on stage."

As the best-polling candidate on thestage Wednesday, the first night of the debates was Warren's to lose and it was widely seen to have gone to her.

Shot in the arm for Castro

While some less buzzy names apparently failed to rise to the occasion, this week's debates appeared to give a political blood transfusion to the U.S.'s former housing secretary,Julin Castro, and Booker both were polling in the low single digits, according to the RealClearPolitics average.

Sanders slams Trump as a 'fraud'

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U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders slams President Donald Trump at the second Democrat debate.

If first debates place a premium on being memorable, Castro succeeded. On immigration, he looked to be trying to own the issue, challenging Beto O'Rourke's opposition to theproposal by the former Texas congressman to decriminalize border crossings.

"I just think it's a mistake, Beto," Castro chided at one point.

While Castro walked to the podium in Florida polling at less than one per cent, online search interest for him took off during the debate.Queries on the presidential hopeful spiked more than 2,400 per cent on Google Trends, as good a sign as any that he may have the momentum to be carried over the line to the next debates.

"Castro definitely had one of the best nights on the stage," Strother said.

Underscoring the Democratic party's embracingof liberal policies on both nights,moderators asked for a show of hands from anyone who would abolish private health insurance in favour of a single-payer system. On night one, Warren and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio shot up their hands; on the second night,Harris and Sandersraised theirs.

Those signs of a leftward tilt were likely music to Trump's ears, warned Republican operative Jai Chabria, a onetimeadviser to Ohio's former governorJohn Kasich.

"They just showcased how far left the party has gone. And Trump is already painting themas the socialist party," Chabriasaid. "Now they're talking about getting rid of private insurance? That is something the Trump campaign is going to love."

'Look how things turned out'

While candidates for both debates were randomly selected, Wednesday featured only Warren as a top five contender. Headliners for Thursday's debate included four of the best-polling candidates, including Biden, Sanders, Harris and Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind.

But it would be wrong to look at Wednesday as as warm-up act for Thursday's show, said veteran presidential debate analyst Alan Schroeder, even if Thursday wasstacked with more top-tier candidates. It's still early in the primary season.

At this point at the start of the Republican primary about two election cycles ago, Schroeder noted, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani was emerging in late May 2011 as the front-runner for the Republican nomination for 2012. Things changed quickly.

"Jeb Bush was going to be the Republican nominee in 2016 at this point," Schroeder said.

"And look how things turned out."