My husband agrees with you. We watched together. He probably paid more attention than I did. And he felt that Buttigieg had done really well.
I thought Bernie had a strong night and came off very well. Biden didn’t have any major mishaps, but his way of reacting super forcefully, almost angrily, is a bit unsettling to me. So defensive, and why exactly? Klobuchar did quite well, but I suspect won’t get much momentum from it. Buttigieg also passed with a high grade, I thought. Yang and Steyer need to drop out. I will say that when Yang remarked that Democrats need to examine why Trump won in the first place, I thought that was the smartest thing I’d heard from any of them.
I’m watching the debate now. Steyer really impresses me! (Too bad he doesn’t have a chance. 
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I didn’t watch, but 538’s tracking poll (polling the same group of voters before and after the debate) had Sanders and Klobuchar doing well, Biden and Yang doing poorly, and the others treading water. That seems to be at odds with the consensus here.
In terms of the percentage of voters at least CONSIDERING a candidate, Sanders went from trailing Biden 46-43 to leading him 46-41.
And massive SMH that in a debate which spent a lot of time on racial issues, the candidate given the least time to speak was the only POC on the stage!
Bernie is complaining that the DNC changed the rules to let Bloomberg into the next debate, which of course is the on-message Bernie thing to say; there shouldn’t be one set of rules for billionaires and another for everyone else.
OTOH, I think it’s fair to say that anyone polling in the double digits deserves to participate, and that the DNC would have written the rules differently in the first place if they had foreseen this situation.
And strategically, the sooner Bernie and the other candidates get this guy on a debate stage, the sooner his numbers will start drying up.
Bernie cries rigged, I’m shocked.
But yes, I agree with the changes. The Bloomberg money machine is a real deal and Yang and Steyer are way past their expiration dates. Biden/Klobuchar/Warren are wobbly now but all 3 could stick it out. So, at least the next debate will cut two and add one.
But, the more debates we have, the less significant they are. And, yes, that’s Bernie’s fault for crying rigged all the time.
I say yes. The economy was good* in 2016, and Clinton got more votes. Yes, the economy is good now, but the Dems don’t have to beat Trump all over America. That is, the nominee will have the same states as Clinton had locked up. California and New York ain’t going nowhere, for instance. They only have to flip Florida**, and then one other of Wisconsin, Michigan, Penn, or Arizona. So as to who, I’d bet any of the top four of Sanders, Biden, Buttigieg, or Warren. Hell, I’d even say Klobuchar.
*Based on certain things. Perhaps not in others…
**If not flipping Florida, there are other ways involving the named states.