Despite CNN’s best efforts to coax Joe Biden into the presidential race in time for the first debate, apparently the Vice President is passing on the event and will reportedly be making a decision sometime this month. However, tonight marks the start of the debate season for the democratic presidential contenders. Here are all the details you need including times, live streams, and candidates.
Schedule for Tuesday, October 13, 2015:
9pm ET (8pm CT, 6pm PT)
CNN Democratic Presidential Debate
Note that CNN’s official coverage begins at 8:30pm ET, but the debate does not start until 9pm ET (or the equivalent in your time zone).
Live Stream: CNN.com
(free, no subscription required)
Candidates: Clinton, Sanders, O’Malley, Webb, Chafee
Moderators: Anderson Cooper with Dana Bash and Juan Carlos Lopez
Podium Order: On either side of Clinton, the highest-polling candidate, are Bernie Sanders (to Clinton’s right) and Martin O’Malley (to her left). Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee, the fourth- and fifth-placing candidates, bookend the stage.
Report on the first Democratic debate from CBS News:
Five Democratic candidates for president will meet on the debate stage for the first time on Tuesday in Las Vegas, giving voters across the country their first opportunity to see the candidates side by side. More than 23 million people tuned into see the Republican candidates go head-to-head in both of their first two debates. It remains to be seen whether Democrats can get the same numbers to tune in for their debate, but nonetheless,Tuesday night brings big risks and big opportunities for Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee.
…
With their campaigns now passing or nearing the six-month mark, Clinton has consistently played nice with her main challengers for the Democratic nomination: Sanders and O’Malley. There have been few personal attacks launched between the candidates and instead only carefully worded, though sometimes thinly veiled, comments on policy differences.
O’Malley, who takes pride in “forging new consensus,” has accused Clinton often of “following public opinion” on issues like immigration, the Keystone XL pipeline and, more recently, the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
“Unlike a weathervane that blows in the wind, I know where I stand,” O’Malley told Chris Hayes in an interview on MSNBC last week, adding that he was against the TPP “eight months ago.”
He accused Clinton of “bobbing and weaving and giving non-answers for most of this campaign” shortly after she announced her opposition to the pipeline. And on Sunday, O’Malley dinged Clinton again — this time, on foreign policy.
We will have the complete debate video after it airs in case you miss it. CNN is desperately waiting to see whether the Democratic debates can bring in the 20+ million views that have tuned in to see the Donald Trump show on the Republican side. I don’t think it will be that high but it will be a sizable number.
