To say that the CNN primary debates went off without a hitch would be nothing short of an exaggeration. Conflicting opinions are bound to occur during the debates that help decide the fate of the nation as a whole, or at least the fate for the next four years. Running for president is prestigious, usually only the most intelligent or the most political savvy are able to even attempt this feat. It is not only a competition between political parties, but a competition for the popular vote of the candidate’s own political party.

Keyword: competition.

A competition that was between eleven people from the Republican Party, meanwhile the Democratic Party only had five people in their debates. Although the Republicans may have gotten off track constantly trying to one up each other, there were nearly twice as many of them making it harder to get a word in edge-wise. The moderators could have stepped in and stopped it at any time. Instead the politicians were allowed to keep at it. Even at the beginning of the debate, Governor John Kasich stated that if he was “sitting at home watching this back and forth, [he] would be inclined to turn it off.” Why? Because the moderators were not insuring that the politicians stayed on topic as they should have.

Meanwhile, the Democratic debate’s moderators seemed to interrupt the candidates and actually speak up in order to insure that they stayed on track. One such instance would be when the moderator asked about how former governor of Maryland and presidential candidate Martin O’Malley could run the nation with the policies that were implemented, causing riots in the areas that he ran. And before the candidate could avoid the subject he stepped in to highlight a specific example of a policy that contributed to the riots.

Let us not forget that the Democrats neglected to comment much on education and avoided directly discussing certain issues, instead choosing to speak in roundabout ways. Although both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders brought up the issue of education, they were both rather brief about it. A fellow debate watcher teacher and blogger Steven Singer pointed out that even though Clinton did mention implementing better schools she “neglected to say what those good schools would look like.”

These two examples are not the only time that the Democratic debaters chose to remain rather vague on issues. Clinton even admitted as much to the audience while stating, “I never took a position on Keystone until I took a position on Keystone.”

A little bit of rowdy behaviors between the candidates is inevitable, especially if they are truly passionate about what they are debating and want to answer in the most straightforward manner. The main difference between the debates is not just the number of people involved, but how willing the candidates were to speak out and defend their candidacy.