Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, Wednesday night claimed during the first debate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination – a race crowded with about two dozen names – that she is the "most qualified" to be commander in chief.
Many Americans apparently agreed that the Iraq war veteran at least won the debate, according to some unscientific polls.
In a morning-after poll by the Washington Examiner, nearly 42 percent of respondents picked her as the winner. Sen. Elizabeth Warren was a distant second at 20 percent, and former Rep. Beto O'Rourke and Sen. Cory Booker were in the middle of a group with under 10 percent.
Another unscientific poll by the Drudge Report had Gabbard at 46 percent, with the rest -- Warren, John Delaney, Bill De Blasio, Tim Ryan, Amy Klobuchar, Jay Inslee, Julian Castro, O'Rourke and Booker -- at around or below 10 percent.
A second debate, including front-runners Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden, is scheduled Thursday night.
Gabbard, who has not been a serious contender in the early polling for the Democratic nomination, told Breitbart News after the debate, which President Trump described as "boring," that the other candidates would get the U.S. into more wars.
"I'm the one who is most qualified," she claimed.
One of the topics was immigration, a problem President Trump has been fighting Democrats in Congress to address.
The topic of the day was the tragic deaths of a Salvadoran man and his 2-year-old daughter, who drowned trying to cross the Rio Grande.
Castro said such illegal entry should be decriminalized, and Ryan lashed out at the Trump administration over its use of a federal system, set up long before Trump took office, that separates children from adults who are seeking asylum.
Three of the candidates attempted to make political points by responding to questions in Spanish.
O'Rourke managed to sidestep the first question of the event on how high the nation's income tax rates should be.
DailyMail.com reported: "Democrats are trying to capitalize on the Miami debate's power to draw a Hispanic audience. U.S. Census data suggest that about one in eight people living in the United States speak Spanish at home."
There were multiple technical glitches, and that attracted the attention of the president, who wrote on Twitter: "@NBCNews and @MSNBC should be ashamed of themselves for having such a horrible technical breakdown in the middle of the debate. Truly unprofessional and only worthy of a FAKE NEWS Organization, which they are!"
Inslee charged that Trump is "the biggest threat to the security" of the United States, and De Blasio said Russia is the biggest threat "because they're trying to undermine our democracy and they've been doing a pretty damned good job of it and we need to stop them."
Booker said he would curb enforcement of immigration laws.
Several hopefuls also criticized the current state of the economy, with Klobuchar complaining that many people can't afford college or "their premiums" while "Donald Trump just sits in the White House and gloats about what's going on."
When the moderators reminded the candidates that 60 percent of Democrats approve of the current economy, Warren snapped: "It's doing great for a thinner and thinner slice at the top."
De Blasio said there's no shortage of money, "it's just in the wrong hands."
Gabbard apologized for, as a teen, opposing same-sex marriage, declaring she no longer holds that view.
Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, accused the Democrats on the first debate stage of arguing over "fringe ideas" that aren't in touch with America's values.
So far, only seven of the 25 declared Democratic candidates are averaging better than 2 percent in national polls, according to an average maintained by Real Clear Politics.
Nearly two-thirds of Democrats across the nation say they are not yet paying close attention to the campaign.
Pollster Frank Luntz said O'Rourke "was the loser" in several arguments, and analyst Bill Palmer said Warren "stayed on message all night."
The New York Times said Booker took up more air time than any other candidate, capturing more than 11 minutes.
The Mail reported De Blasio's biggest moments were when "he was interrupting people, which wasn't a good look."
The AP reported the Democrats were fighting to "break out" from the crowded field of candidates.