Democrat 2020 candidates like Biden, Sanders and Warren will be looking much further ahead than this week's debates

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders were the targets that other candidates had to hit to make an impact in the first of the second round of Democratic debates on the road to the presidential election next year.

A number of the lesser candidates like John Delaney, the former Maryland congressman, Steve Bullock, the governor of Montana, and Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar all turned Tuesday night’s debate into a moderates vs progressives scrap with the left-leaning Sanders and Warren.

However, the moderates failed to land a single convincing blow, despite their digs about the costly nature of their progressive policies. Perhaps the line of attack was too obvious.

Delaney in particular noted a fundraising boost on Wednesday after his performance, vital if he wants to stay in the race, but the fact that Warren was able to land this haymaker against him: “I can’t understand why anyone goes through the trouble of running for president of the United States just to talk about what we can’t do and what we shouldn’t fight for” – shows that Warren was in no trouble.

Senators Sanders and Warren are fighting for the same ground in the presidential race, but chose to team-up to defend their ideals. Again, that shows the security of position. The bigger battles, including against each other, are still to come.

Former vice president Joe Biden and California senator Kamala Harris faced the same tactics from candidates on night two – like Julian Castro, a former Obama-era official, who is desperate to make an impact to kick-start his campaign.

By all accounts Biden had a disappointing first debate, and as the frontrunner, prepared for more attacks in round two. He needs to defend himself better. A second poor debate may start taking a chunk out of his lead in the polls. Harris scored big points in the polls after putting Biden in his place over his stance on race during the debate, and she has secured her place in the first tier of candidates.

In reality, even if candidates are yet to drop out in any great numbers, the top table is already taking shape. The fundraising and polling requirements to make the stage for the third round of debates in September and October are higher than those needed for the Detroit round, with only seven candidates having definitively made the grade so far.

They are Biden, Harris, Sanders, Warren, Senator Cory Booker, former congressman Beto O’Rourke and South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg. Entrepreneur Andrew Yang claims to have also qualified but Democratic National Committee disputes this. Buttigieg, and O’Rourke in particular, had quiet nights on Tuesday and other candidates will have to work hard to make the next debates while the window is still open. A number of candidates are far from meeting both criteria, while others are desperately scrambling to meet one or the other.

We could end up with potentially only one night of debating in September if others do not qualify, with candidates like Biden, Harris, Warren and Sanders all finally facing each other.

That will be the goal the four will be looking ahead to.