Almost from the start on Tuesday night, CNN positioned the first of its two Democratic presidential primary debates this week as the progressives versus the moderates. And repeatedly throughout the slugfest in Detroit, both sides seemed more than happy to oblige.

More moderate candidates, such as former Rep. John Delaney of Maryland and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock , attacked Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren on issues including health care and climate change . The progressive senators responded in kind portraying their opponents as fearful of imposing the change necessary to put the country back on track.

We cant choose a candidate we dont believe in just because were too scared to do anything else. And we cant ask other people to vote for a candidate we dont believe in, Warren said at one point.

The exchanges provided ample airtime to the moderates essentially fringe candidates who acted as the ideological counterweights to Warren and Sanders, with former Vice President Joe Biden on the sidelines until Wednesday night. When they failed, CNN moderators Dana Bash, Don Lemon and Jake Tapper stepped in to help out as well, employing conservative talking points in their questioning of the partys left-wing contingent.

All in all, it boiled down to 10 powerful people struggling for oxygen while three other powerful people did what they could do to make sense of the chaos.

Sometimes it worked. A lot of the time it didnt. But here are some takeaways.

*****

The Moderates Attacked Early And Often

Barely registering in the polls and in danger of not qualifying for the third debate in September, moderate backbench candidates, such as Delaney, Bullock, Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, had one mission Tuesday: Create a standout moment that could reignite their struggling campaigns. To do so, they attacked the two progressives on stage, Sanders and Warren. Over and over, the moderates bashed their progressive policies, branding them as a surefire way to cost Democrats the general election in 2020.

You are playing into Donald Trumps hands, Bullock said to Warren after she affirmed her support for decriminalizing border crossings.

The four moderates who went on the attack against the left wing of the party largely played poor stand-ins for the leading centrist in the race, Biden, who is set to debate against a different field Wednesday night.

But if there was something resembling a winner, it was likely either Bullock or Delaney. Bullock received the third-most speaking time, and Delaney got called back to 11 times by the moderators . Neither one is polling above 1%.

Sanders And Warren Stuck To Their Non-aggression Pact

Considering their virtual tie in national polls, it would have made sense if the progressive senators from the Northeast tried to accentuate their differences on Tuesday night. But Warren and Sanders have had something of an unwritten agreement to not go after each other during the primary campaign. And though there have been occasional signs of them wavering from it, the two of them stuck to the non-aggression pact during the debate.