After two Republican debates—or four, counting their JV debates—we get to a Democratic debate.
Taking the stage in Las Vegas Tuesday night:
Hillary Clinton
Bernie Sanders
Martin O'Malley
Jim Webb
Lincoln Chafee
As the leader, Clinton will be at center stage, flanked by Sanders to her right and O'Malley to her left, with Webb and Chafee taking the outside. The media really wants us speculating about whether Vice President Joe Biden will make a dramatic entry to the race with a last-minute appearance (parachuting in, perhaps?), but ... no.
Here's to a healthy exchange of ideas and not too many stupid questions from moderators and questioners Anderson Cooper, Dana Bash, Juan Carlos Lopez, and, reading questions from social media, Don Lemon. (At least they have Lemon just offering other people's questions.) If their questions aren't bad enough for you, Donald Trump has promised to live-tweet.
The debate, or at least the immediate pre-debate coverage, began on CNN at 8:30 PM ET and is being streamed on CNNGo and CNN.com.
Tue Oct 13, 2015 at 5:56 PM PT (Barbara Morrill): The other three guys did their opening statements, with Chafee assuring us he is scandal-free, Webb has kids, number unclear and O'Malley wants a better future for our children (bold).
Tue Oct 13, 2015 at 6:00 PM PT: As you'd expect, Bernie Sanders goes hard on his economic populist angle to open, then moves to our "moral responsibility" to address climate change. Next he addresses mass incarceration and high rates of unemployment among African Americans and Latinos, calling to put money into education and jobs rather than building jails. In short, Bernie is seizing his moment to frame the issues his way without any of the traditional politician's thank-yous or personal introductions.
Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, goes traditional with a thank-you and an introduction of herself as a granddaughter of a mill worker and as a grandmother, but she quickly transitions to raising the minimum wage and making the tax system more fair. She shows the most passion, probably, when she addresses paid leave and work-family balance.
Tue Oct 13, 2015 at 6:04 PM PT (Barbara Morrill): Guess Anderson Cooper isn't too interested in policy positions ... first questions are (to Clinton) "will you say anything to get elected" and (to Sanders) "how will a Socialist get elected."
Tue Oct 13, 2015 at 6:14 PM PT (Barbara Morrill): New thread here.