Race exits the debate stage

Remember last year when then-presidential candidate Senator Kamala Harris called out former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden over his record on integration and busing? Now that all the nonwhite candidates have departed the Democratic debate stage, racial equality seems to be taking a backseat to issues of age and gender.

At this week’s debate in Des Moines, 78-year-old Senator Bernie Sanders brought up his age—referring to the Vietnam War as one of the worst decisions “in our lifetimes.” He was standing next to former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a candidate born seven years after the war ended.