Say what you want about the second Democratic debate held July 30-31 in Detroit, Michigan, but there were no winners. All these 20 candidates for president did was bark at each other like a pack of wild dogs.

Clearly both CNN and the Democratic National Committee were losers in this debate. The questions asked of the candidates lacked substance. There were no questions about President Donald Trump’s robust economy because CNN and the DNC know they can’t unseat the current president by talking about historically low unemployment across the board especially among minorities, women and young workers. All they wanted to talk about was single-payer healthcare, open borders, higher taxes while calling President Trump a “racist” and a “bigot.” They had no vision or central theme other than ‘beat Trump.’

By the time the next round of debates comes around on Sept. 12-13 at Texas Southern University in Houston, it is expected that several of the current 20 Democrats running for president will not have qualified and will drop out of the race. This third debate is sponsored by ABC News and Univision. The moderators have yet to be announced, according to U.S. Presidential Election News.com.

To qualify for the next debate each “candidate will need to either have at least two percent support in three qualifying polls, AND provide evidence of at least 130,000 individual donations from a minimum of 400 different donors in at least 20 states.”

So after the first two Democratic debates none of the candidates are standouts. They all disappointments. It’s anyone’s guess who the Democratic nominee for president in 2020 will be.

For all his experience in elected government dating back to the early 1970s, former Vice President Joe Biden appeared old and worn out. “He was treading water, but he didn’t swim anywhere,” said former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer on Fox News Thursday morning following the debate.

In a shocking moment, candidate and incumbent U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) claimed, “Our president is supporting Al Qaeda.” What?

“This is reprehensible,” said Fleischer in regards to Gabbard’s Al Qaeda statement.

This comment by Gabbard left many shaking their heads. But don’t count Gabbard out, not just yet, because some are saying she might make a good running mate for whoever gets the Democratic nomination in 2020 while others are saying Gabbard may turn Republican. She is by far the more interesting candidate of all the Democrats running for president this year.

Democratic front-runners Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, California Sen. Kamala Harris, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren did little to nothing to advance themselves in this political race.

Nationally — prior to the second debate — Biden is polling at 32-percent, Sanders is at 16.4-percent while Warren has 14.8-percent and Harris has 11-percent support from Democratic voters. It is doubtful these rankings, compiled by Real Clear Politics polling averages, will go up or down much in the next round of polling after this debate.

Biden may well become the next front runner to end up like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush who was ahead in all the polls leading up to Campaign 2016. Bush was one of the first Republicans to drop out due to a lack of support during the early Republican debates for president that year.

Meanwhile, the two-night debate format leaves a lot to be desired because some of the candidates had no chance to debate their strongest rivals. You had Biden and Harris barking at each other, while Warren and Sanders had little to attack each other on because they are like two Socialist peas in a pod.

The time has come for the lesser candidates to read the hand writing on the wall, throw their support behind stronger candidates and walk away from Campaign 2020.

On CNN’s debate stage — at the Fox Theater — above the debaters there was a huge ring of stars illuminated in cobalt blue but it really did look like a UFO hovering in the night sky.

About the Author Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member