6 Takeaways From The Nevada Democratic Debate

In Las Vegas — a city known for prize fights — the Democrats were gloves-off.

And there was a new entrant in the ring, who took a lot of incoming: Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has spent more than $300 million of his own money on ads to raise his profile.

Bloomberg qualified for the debate just the day before, after an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll became the fourth national survey showing him with 10% or more support in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Herewith, six takeaways from a rollicking night.

1. Bloomberg got on stage, but had an uneven performance

All that money bought Bloomberg a raised profile – and a slot on the debate stage. But he had a spotty debate.

Bloomberg had his good moments – talking about how to beat President Trump, why Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, in his view, would lose and defending capitalism against socialism.

"What a wonderful country we have," Bloomberg said before taking aim at Sanders. "The best-known socialist in the country happens to be a millionaire with three houses. What did I miss here?

But Bloomberg, 78, hasn't debated in 11 years, and it showed. He was off balance now and again, and had a hard time defending himself, especially when it came to his past comments about women and non-disclosure agreements with some of his employees.