4 takeaways from last nights debate.

It wasn't teatime for two. But it wasn't political warfare either.

Last night, the last two major candidates in Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden showed their differences in an often testy two-hour debate.

Here are 4 takeaways from the debate:

Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders greet each other at last night's Democratic Debate

The Coronavirus casts a shadow

The first question of the debate was about the coronavirus. The only people in attendance for the debate were the speakers and the television anchors. The two candidates bumped elbows instead of shaking hands. From the very beginning, it was clear that the coronavirus would be at the top of the agenda.

Biden, never missing an opportunity to flaunt his White House experience, immediately said that "We should do what we did during the Ebola crisis" referring to his experience handling the Ebola outbreak in 2014. 

In the meantime, Sanders mixed his calls for Medicare for all with calls for an overhaul of the healthcare system and taking blunt but quick steps to fight the virus. "I obviously believe in Medicare for all. I will fight for that as president" the Vermont senator said. "But right now, in this emergency, I want every person in this country to understand that when you get sick, you go to the doctor. Do not worry about the cost right now, we're in the middle of a national emergency."

Both Sanders and Biden agreed that the country was in grave peril-one that made the rest of the debate seem superfluous and beside the point.

Let the veepstakes begin!

If you're a betting man(or woman) and are looking for something to bet on now that sports are canceled, look no further! Last night, Joe Biden said "I commit that I will, in fact, pick a woman to be my vice president. There are a number of women who are qualified to be vice president tomorrow." And when asked about what Biden said, Bernie left himself a little more wiggle room, saying "In all likelihood, I will," adding that it was not enough to have a woman as his vice president, she also needed to be progressive.

Joe Biden speaks on picking a woman vice president

'Medicare for All' With a twist.

It's a Democratic Debate. It's not a question of if Medicare for All will be talked about, but when and for how long. This debate was no exception, with the coronavirus outbreak adding a whole other layer to the conversation. 

Biden went on the offense, questioning Sanders’ depiction of a universal government plan as a cure-all. “You have a single-payer system in Italy,” Biden said, pointing to a nation that is among the hardest hit by the pandemic. “It doesn’t work there.”

Sanders asserted that the coronavirus has thrown already existing cracks in America’s healthcare system into sharp relief, noting the shortage of providers, ventilators and other crucial components for care.

“In a good year, without the epidemic, we’re losing up to 60,000 people who die every year because they don’t get to a doctor on time,” Sanders said. “It’s clear this crisis is only making a bad situation worse.”

Neither ceded any ground.

Silence is Golden

Fears of the spreading coronavirus resulted, in effect, in a debate quarantine.

Rather than fielding questions at a 5,000-seat theater in Phoenix, as planned, Biden and Sanders faced a panel of moderators on a Washington soundstage, with no crowd to cheer, jeer or otherwise interject themselves into the discussion.

So what was the sound, or rather the result, of no hands clapping?

There wasn’t much lost in the absence of audience participation; if anything, the lack of unwanted interruption gave the candidates more time to answer questions and spared them having to respond to people shilling for one rival or another.

For those whose taste runs more to the bombastic, there are plenty of Roller Derby clips or excerpts of the Democrats’ feisty South Carolina debate — was it really less than three weeks ago? — to be found online.