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Another 10 candidates will go at it tonight, and the analysis will congeal over the next several days.
It is easy to overestimate the impact of these debates in the moment. Remember, only 5 percent (at most) of what will matter when the voting starts next year has occurred.
Ninety-five percent of what matters in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination lies in front of us, not behind us.
But here is a first take on how the candidates did. As a partisan Republican, I have taken the liberty of ranking Wednesday night's candidates from 1 to 10 (1 being the best, 10 being the worst) and offering some brief commentary on each of their performances.
1. Former housing and urban development secretary Julián Castro: Beat expectations. Poised and broke through a couple of times. He set the left edge for Democrats on immigration and was perhaps the best performer.
2. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts: Able and confident, perhaps even a little intimidating. Moderator favorite. Her momentum continues.
3. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio: Better than I expected. Successfully asserted himself. I wanted to think he was a joke, but he came across as forceful and credible.
4. Sen. Amy Klobucher of Minnesota: Nervous, earnest, rehearsed. But a net-plus performance. She is among the serious candidates.
5. Former Maryland congressman John Delaney: Knowledgeable. Sensible. The most like a Republican.
6. Former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke: Awkward buzzwords and platitudes. Awkward buzzwords and platitudes in Spanish. Lightweight. Please, no more Kennedy comparisons.
7. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey: High word count, but low content. Panders more than others but got better as the night progressed. Looks a little frightening - and the most like a Marvel comic character.
8. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii: Hillary-esque. I thought she might be the "bre
akout" performer, but she was mostly a bore. A dud. 9. Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio: Seemed like a high school coach. Lame sympathy for school shooters? Bragged about his long tenure in Congress. What is he doing here?
10. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee: Very flat, not quite ready for C-SPAN.
As for the field as a whole: Democrats' positions on the economy are tepid and blurred because of the current prosperity fostered by the Trump economy.
On the other hand, their aggressiveness on immigration appears to be a defining issue where the contrast with President Donald Trump will be clear. The Democratic Party is getting very close to matter-of-fact support for open borders.
Wednesday night's debate helped a couple of candidates and hurt a couple of others, but overall, all the candidates moved sideways and any potential consequences of tonight's debate will be quickly overwhelmed by tomorrow's debate and maybe even by a sudden tweet.
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Ed Rogers is a a political consultant and a veteran of the White House and several national campaigns. He is the chairman of the lobbying and communications firm BGR Group, which he founded with former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour in 1991."