Who won the debate?

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were center-stage for Night 1 of the second Democratic presidential primary debate — and it was all about them.

The two of them looked like a tag-team wrestling tandem, parrying one jab after another at what lower-polling moderate rivals called their "fairy tale" and "wish-list" policies. At times it was hard to tell the two liberal senators were competing for the nomination.

Those dynamics gave the obscure hopefuls — Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, Rep. Tim Ryan and, especially ex-Rep. John Delaney — a surprising amount of air time.

Tuesday’s event didn’t necessarily have one clear winner, but here are some superlatives from the second Democratic debate, Part I:

Made the Most of His 15 Minutes

Delaney had exactly what he wanted. Throughout the campaign, the low-polling former Maryland congressional has been itching for a fight with Sanders and Warren. And there was his name in the second sentence of Jake Tapper’s first question, posed to Sanders about the Vermont senator’s “Medicare for All” proposal.

“Congressman Delaney just referred to it as bad policy,” Tapper said. “And previously, he has called the idea ‘political suicide that will just get President Trump reelected.’ What do you say to Congressman Delaney?”

Indeed, Delaney got that debate for much of the first hour. But it was on the environment, not health care, when Warren dispatched the moderate for his criticisms of the Green New Deal as an unachievable pipe dream.

"I don’t understand why anybody goes to the trouble of running for president of the United States just to say all the things we can’t do and shouldn’t fight for,” she said in one of the more memorable lines of a policy-laden night.

Best Gesture: Elizabeth Warren

Later in the debate, Delaney was asked if he, as someone worth an estimated $65 million, supported Warren’s proposed “wealth tax,” which would subject the self-funding millionaire to a 2 percent surtax.

While Delaney processed the question, CNN’s broadcast cut to a split screen with Warren — who smiled wryly and rubbed her hands together.

Most Googled: Marianne Williamson

After an uneven — and, at times, bizarre — first debate, the challenge for Williamson was to be less of an outsider candidate trying to conform to the conventions of a 10-person political debate and more of the inspirational speaker that has made her successful.

Girlfriend, you were so on.

Rendered to an afterthought by the moderators — she was typically called on only to chime in on already ongoing debates, not to be asked questions of her own — Williamson made the most of her opportunities, delivering impassioned answers that contrasted her with the panel of nine politicians.

Time will tell whether it results in voters giving her a second look, though her search traffic spiked. Williamson was the most searched-for candidate during the debate, according to data published by Google Trends.

It’s not unusual for lesser-known candidates to be searched far more than well-known ones and doesn’t necessarily mean any polling bump is coming, however. Sanders was the second-most searched-for candidate, and Warren was the third.

Most Blatant Straddle: Pete Buttigieg

In a debate essentially defined by Sanders and Warren on one side, and less liberal candidates like Delaney, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock on the other — there was Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., in the middle.

Buttigieg isn’t for Medicare for All — he’s for “Medicare for All Who Want It.” But he’s not going to pan Medicare for All the way former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) or Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) will.

Buttigieg rejected the suggestion that he’s calculating.

“That's the policy I'm putting forward,” he said Tuesday, “Not because I think it's the right triangulation between Republicans here and Democrats there — because I think it's the right answer for people like my mother-in-law, who is here, whose life was saved by the ACA, but who is still far too vulnerable to the fact that the insurance industry does not care about her.”

But he is triangulating, in a way — positioning himself between the more radical Medicare for All plans from Sanders and Warren, and the more tepid, public-option plans from the moderates.

Loneliest Candidate: Beto O’Rourke

The one-time rising Democratic star gives an impassioned speech, and his skills were on display at times on Tuesday. Punctuating his responses with his right arm swinging to emphasize every word, O’Rourke gave a strong opening statement, and solid responses on immigration and a few other issues.

But he also never found a sparring partner to keep him relevant in the debate. He never went toe-to-toe with Sanders or Warren, even though his health care plan isn’t as extreme. He didn’t contrast himself with the moderates, where he could have positioned himself as a fresher face — nor did he go after Buttigieg, a possibility there was considerable buzz about ahead of the debate.

His campaign isn’t exactly on life support, though it isn’t in robust health, either. He’s still assured of a spot in the third debate in September, even though his fundraising has slowed significantly, and his poll numbers have ticked down. Tuesday night did little to reverse that trajectory.

Most Likely to Know His RealClearPolitics Average: Bernie Sanders

Presidents and presidential candidates have had a complicated relationship with polling over the years. They’ve obsessed over it. They’ve attacked it. They’ve even planned their summer vacations around it (recall Dick Morris sending the Clintons to Wyoming before the 1996 election).

But not since Harry Truman held up a copy of the Chicago Daily Tribune trumpeting Tom Dewey’s spurious “victory” have politicians celebrated their poll numbers like Sanders and the current president.

Going back to 2016, Sanders has touted his performance in the polls, mostly to allay fears about his perceived weakness as a general election candidate. And he did it again on Tuesday.

“The truth is every credible poll that I’ve seen has me beating Donald Trump, including in the battleground states of Michigan, where I won the Democratic primary, Wisconsin, where I won the Democratic primary, and Pennsylvania,” Sanders said — conveniently omitting that he lost the 2016 Pennsylvania primary to Hillary Clinton.

Most Militant: CNN moderators

Coming into the nearly two-hour-and-45-minute debate, most of the attention given to CNN’s format changes from the first debate focused on the elimination of down-the-line and raise-your-hand questions.

But it was actually the rapid-fire exchanges prompted by CNN’s 30-second-response allotment that shaped the debate most. On one hand, it stoked true back-and-forths between the candidates. (And CNN did try to create conflict, even where the candidates were unwilling to oblige them, like when they asked Warren about identifying as a “capitalist.”)

But the short response times often led to candidates getting cut off by the moderators, who implored those on the stage to follow the rules.

The campaigns watching at home Tuesday night would be well-served to encourage their candidates to be more concise on Wednesday to avoid hearing, “Thank you, Senator/Congressman/Mayor,” repeatedly as they try to finish their answers.

Most Groan-Inducing Line: Tim Ryan

"So in a few minutes all of the pundits will look and say, 'Who captured the left lane and center lane?'" Ryan said in his closing statement. (Guilty as charged.) "I hope tonight at some level I captured your imagination."

Close runner-up goes to Buttigieg, who delivered this beauty: "As an urban mayor serving a diverse community, the racial divide lives within me."

Best Sign Off: John Hickenlooper

“What a night! I loved it!”

With that — unless the former Colorado governor can surge in the polls and bring in roughly 100,000 new donors in the next four weeks — he said goodbye to the Democratic primary stage.

Zach Montellaro contributed to this report.