Recap on rural issues in last night's Democratic debate

Twelve of the top Democratic presidential candidates met last night at Otterbein University in central Ohio for a fourth major debate, moderated by CNN's Anderson Cooper and Erin Burnett and New York Times National Editor Mark Lacey. Here's a run-down of what they had to say about issues with rural resonance, taken from The Washington Post's transcript.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said she supports impeaching President Trump because she believes Trump "has not been standing up for the workers of Ohio. He’s not been standing up for the farmers in Iowa."

On her Medicare-for-all plan, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts was pressed to say whether it would result in higher taxes for the middle class. She did not directly answer the question, but said overall out of pocket expenses for middle-class families would not increase. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said his Medicare-for-all plan would cause tax increases, but, like Warren, stressed that almost everyone would be paying less out of pocket because they would no longer be paying for insurance.

Klobuchar noted that Baby Boomers are hitting retirement age and said health insurance must better cover long-term care. She also advocated further expansion of Medicaid and going after drug companies responsible for the opioid epidemic, which has harmed many rural areas.

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang said he wanted to decriminalize the possession and use of small amounts of opioids, including heroin, as a way of combating the epidemic. That would help keep addicts out of jail and instead encourage them to seek treatment, he said. 

Noting that a recent study predicted about a quarter of U.S. jobs could be lost to automation in the next 10 years, Burnett asked Sanders if he could think of a way to employ those who lose them. He said they could be put to work rebuilding America's crumbling infrastructure and renewable-energy facilities, and noted the need for more teachers, childcare workers, tradesmen, and health workers.

Warren said bad trade policy is a bigger threat to American jobs than automation, and said corporations move factories to other countries to save money without considering the harm they're doing to the workers and their community. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey agreed that America must not make it so easy for companies to move jobs overseas.

Yang said automation is a major threat, and said self-driving vehicles will put long-haul truck drivers out of work: "What is that going to mean for the 3.5 million truckers or the 7 million Americans who work in truck stops, motels, and diners that rely upon the truckers getting out and having a meal?"

In the last debate, former Rep. Beto O'Rourke of Texas said "Hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47." Asked how he would do that, he said: "If someone does not turn in an AR-15 or an AK-47, one of these weapons of war, or brings it out in public and brandishes it in an attempt to intimidate . . . then that weapon will be taken from them. If they persist, they will be other consequences from law enforcement. But the expectation is that Americans will follow the law. I believe in this country. I believe in my fellow Americans. I believe that they will do the right thing." O'Rourke and several other candidates said they support buyback programs.

Sanders criticized fossil-fuel industries for making "huge profits" while hurting the environment. He also said agribusiness mergers are "resulting in the decline of family-based farming in this country."

Booker said state anti-abortion laws infringe on women's liberty and punish people for poverty: "This is disproportionately affecting low-income women in this country, people in rural areas."

Klobuchar said she could beat Trump in the election because she has won in rural districts that usually vote Republican.

O'Rourke, asked the same question, touted his record of improving mental-health-care access for veterans in El Paso and noted that he had done well in Texas, traditionally a red state, in his recent bid to claim Ted Cruz's Senate seat.

John Hudak of the Brookings Institution writes that the debates "have been imperfect," but "their absence would be devastating for the Democratic Party. That’s because criticism of ideas is essential to strengthening the policies of the candidates. Pushing candidates—of either party and for any office—to think about their proposals in terms of actual effect, viability, and detail is critical to improving American public policy. At the heart of many of the punches landed among the candidates was a genuine critique of ideas."