The Note: Top Takeaways From The First Democratic Debate

— -- NOTABLES

--7 MOMENTS THAT MATTERED LAST NIGHT: Hillary Clinton may have stepped onto the stage at the first Democratic presidential primary debate Tuesday as the frontrunner to be her party's nominee, but she did not shy away from a fight, ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE, RYAN STRUYK and MICHAEL FALCONE note. Her second quest for the White House has hit several roadblocks since she announced her candidacy, including persistent questions about the private email account she used as secretary of state and a more vigorous-than-expected challenge from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The debate was dominated by sparring -- intense at times -- between Clinton and Sanders with the other candidates, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee playing supporting roles. The most intense skirmishes of the night were over gun control, differences on foreign policy, Clinton's emails and her handling of the terrorist attacks in Benghazi. Here are seven moments that mattered: http://abcn.ws/1LKFckv And ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE breaks down debate highlights. WATCH: http://abcn.ws/1LaHhsM

--ABC's RICK KLEIN SAYS CLINTON REGAINED CONTROL OF DEMOCRATIC RACE: The Democratic race for president was Hillary Clinton's at the start. She owned it when the candidates finally met on stage. Clinton used the first debate of the campaign to reaffirm control against four challengers who struggled to and sometimes outright refused to bring the fight to her. Clinton delivered a feisty, aggressive performance that flipped the expected script: Rather than take the barbs, she dished them out. http://abcn.ws/1VRIGaB

--'BEST DAY OF THE CAMPAIGN': It's an understatement to say the Clinton campaign is happy about Clinton's debate performance last night. A campaign official told ABC's LIZ KREUTZ that Tuesday was "the best day of the campaign."

--SANDERS RAISED OVER $5,416 A MINUTE IN THE FOUR HOURS AFTER DEBATE: They're calling it a "fundraising bonanza," ABC's MARYALICE PARKS notes. "More than $1.3 million was raised in the first four hours after the debate began. There were more than 37,600 individual contributions," according to a statement from the Sanders campaign. "There was about $100,000 in the five minutes after the debate ended. At the peak, there were 10.25 contributions per second," the statement continued.

--MISSED THE DEBATE? HERE'S A RECAP. The first Democratic presidential debate in a minute. WATCH: http://abcn.ws/1LjR65A

--BY THE NUMBERS. Hillary Clinton -- the party's front-runner -- was the candidate who was attacked directly the most, especially by Martin O'Malley. Clinton also went on the attack, going after Bernie Sanders a few times. The former secretary of state also talked the most during the debate, followed by Sanders. ABC's PAOLA CHAVEZ, MADISON JAROS and MERIDITH MCGRAW have more. http://abcn.ws/1Myi25Y

TODAY ON THE TRAIL with ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE: Hillary Clinton speaks at a union event in Henderson, Nevada followed by a Vegas rally tonight. Bill Clinton is fundraising for his wife today in Connecticut. Bernie Sanders is in California holding an evening fundraiser in Hollywood. We will see Joe Biden this afternoon when he delivers opening remarks at the White House Build America Roundtable. It's another busy New Hampshire day too with Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, John Kasich and Lindsey Graham all still in the state. This afternoon Bush will tour a bionics and prosthetics lab in Manchester. It comes just one day after he laid out his own health care plan, which he's billing as his alternative to Obamacare. Iowa is even busier today. Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum, and Mike Huckabee are all in the state.

THE BUZZ

with ABC's VERONICA STRACQUALURSI and PAOLA CHAVEZ

THE BEST LINES FROM THE 2016 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE. The Democratic debate included the introduction of some of the candidates to a national audience, fiery exchanges and some tough questions. The five candidates on stage -- Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley, Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee -- duked it out on the debate stage Tuesday in Las Vegas, Nevada. ABC'S VERONICA STRACQUALURSI highlights some of the best lines from Tuesday's debate. http://abcn.ws/1K7G7KJ

FROM EMAILS TO CLIMATE CHANGE, MATTHEW DOWD AND LZ GRANDERSON BREAK DOWN FIRST DEBATE. There may have been more moments of unity than contention, such as when Bernie Sanders said "enough" about talk of Hillary Clinton's emails, but who won and who lost? Will anyone get a polling boost? ABC News contributors Matthew Dowd and LZ Granderson gave their take on "Strait Talk." http://abcn.ws/1RabuK4

HILLARY CLINTON: BERNIE SANDERS 'NOT AT ALL' TOUGH ENOUGH ON GUNS'. Hillary Clinton took on Sen. Bernie Sanders for his stance on funs at the first Democratic presidential debate Tuesday, saying he was "not at all" tough on guns. According to ABC's LIZ KREUTZ and MARYALICE PARKS, Clinton responded -- coming out of the gate strong on one of the only issues where she is considered to the left of Sanders. http://abcn.ws/1MpRr6F

BERNIE SANDERS: AMERICANS FED UP WITH CLINTON'S 'DAMN EMAILS'. Bernie Sanders spoke directly to the controversy swirling over Hillary Clinton's emails during the Democratic debate Tuesday night, saying "the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails." ABC's MARYALICE PARKS and LIZ KREUTZ report, Clinton laughed, smiled and unsurprisingly said she agreed. "Thank you," she said. "Me too." The moment drew a standing ovation from the audience and Sanders said there were more pressing issues facing the country. http://abcn.ws/1Ra331e

SEE WHAT DONALD TRUMP TWEETED ABOUT THE DEMOCRATIC DEBATE. Even though he wasn't on the stage Tuesday night, Donald Trump still managed to steal the show. ABC's JOHN SANTUCCI has more on Trump's live tweets from debate night. http://abcn.ws/1X1lklc

JOE BIDEN WAS OUT SIGHT, OUT OF MIND LAST NIGHT. Much of the buzz leading up to the first Democratic debate was about whether Vice President Joe Biden would enter the 2016 race, but to the five Democratic presidential candidates on the debate stage Tuesday night, Biden was out of sight and out of mind. While the vice president watched the debate from his residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., not one of the presidential candidates brought him up by name during the two-and-a-half hour televised debate, ABC's ARLETTE SAENZ notes. Had Biden announced his run and appeared at the debate, there would have been ample opportunities for him to stand out. Here's a look at some of those topics where Biden could have found himself at odds with the candidates.http://abcn.ws/1MyfGnB

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

ANTI-HILLARY CLINTON GROUP'S TV AD SHOWS GRAVE OF AMBASSADOR KILLED IN BENGHAZI ATTACK. An anti-Hillary Clinton group ran a TV ad during Tuesday's Democratic debate showing the gravestone of Libyan Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, who died in the 2012 attack on the American embassy in Benghazi. The Democratic presidential frontrunner, who was Secretary of State at the time, has been under scrutiny for her response to the tragedy and conflicting information in the wake of the attacks. ABC's RYAN STRUYK reports the group is spending more than $100,000 to air the ad in major cities in swing states and in early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina as well as an additional $25,000 on digital ads. http://abcn.ws/1NbHQU0

WHO'S TWEETING?

@MattMackowiak: Admittedly I am biased, but here's the case for @RepBillFlores for Speaker http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/lawmaker-news/256802-the-case-for-bill-flores-for-speaker ... #tx17

@alicetweet: Tweet it and weep: @GovMikeHuckabee over @realDonaldTrump during #DemDebate http://ln.is/washingtonpost.com/8DKfS ... #CNN

@bgittleson: .@JohnKasich gave me a tour of his bus and told me what channel they like to tune the TV to http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/life-campaign-trail-gov-john-kasich-34456268 ...

@monkeycageblog: On "Sanders wins Google" idea: we don't know that people Googling Sanders felt favorably about him - either before or after they Google him.

@OKnox: People running for president have to be given more rules about when to speak, about what, and for how long than my nine-year-old does.