http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/10/cnn_debate_was_a_great_ad_for_the_democratic_party.html

LAS VEGAS—Democratic Party officials and representatives in Las Vegas expressed plenty of optimism ahead of Tuesday night’s debate, to the point that they seemed naïve. These Democrats viewed the debate as a branding opportunity, a means of distancing the party from the foaming beast that emerges whenever Republican candidates gather to debate. The Democrats would spar and elucidate policy differences, but they would do so respectfully and without the interpersonal animus that’s dominated the first two cluttered Republican stages. They would entertain, but through lively discussion—not through Trumpian suplexes or nativist bromides.