Tag Archives: DNC 9th Debate

2/19 Six Candidates to Quibble in NV This Evening; 9th DNC Debate Live Blog

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Tonight is the Nevada debate!

Going into the debate, here’s the latest NBC/WSJ poll.

Only 6 candidates are at the podiums tonight. One of them isn’t Tom Steyer. Instead, he’s been replaced by another billionaire, Mike Bloomberg. He failed to qualify.


(photo credit: WaPo)

The debate is scheduled to be from 8-10 CT in Las Vegas. Moderators will be from NBC News, MSNBC, and The Nevada Independent. Not exactly Bernie neutral panel. But will they try to ask some substantive questions, or will it be more about how each candidate’s campaign will handle the electability issue, which was the overarching theme of the CNN town halls last night.

Las Vegas Democratic Debate

This will be the ninth Democratic debate but the first featuring former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, and he is bound to face an avalanche of attacks from his rivals. Mr. Bloomberg’s rise in recent polls has coincided with the decline of Joseph R. Biden Jr., who needs a big debate performance to recover from stinging losses in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Senator Bernie Sanders, who appears in strong shape heading into Nevada’s caucuses on Saturday, simply needs to continue avoiding the scrutiny that some rivals have received in past debates. Tonight is also a chance for Senator Elizabeth Warren to regain her footing pre-Super Tuesday and for Pete Buttigieg to show he can speak to the concerns of a racially diverse electorate. The surge of Senator Amy Klobuchar in New Hampshire after one strong debate showed just how much these television spectacles can matter.

Should be entertaining, but I hope it’s more serious than that. So, do we take a sip everytime Bernie Bros comes up? Or Obama’s legacy issues? Or if the framing of the questions are about electability, not the substance of the issues?

Bar is open. More conversations to be found in the comments below.