It’s only been less than a week removed from the most recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas, where former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg debuted his debate skills to some rough reviews, but the candidates will all be back on stage tonight in Charleston, South Carolina, for another round. The debate stage will be expanded to seven, accommodating both Bloomberg and billionaire businessman Tom Steyer as well.
Here are all the debate details including the live stream, start time, moderator list, and candidates participating in tonight’s event on CBS.
CBS News South Carolina Democratic Debate (10th Debate)
Date: Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Time: 8 pm ET (7 pm CT, 6 pm MT, 5 pm PT)
Watch On: CBS and BET
Location: The Gaillard Center in Charleston, South Carolina
Sponsors: CBS News, Congressional Black Caucus Institute, Twitter
Moderators: Norah O’Donnell, Gayle King, Margaret Brennan, Major Garrett, Bill Whitaker
Debate Live Stream
The debate live stream is embedded below so you can watch right here starting at around 7 pm ET for the debate pre-show.
Alternate Stream Links: CBS News (YouTube), CBSNews.com
How to watch
On TV – The debate will air on your local CBS station as well as BET on cable and satellite.
Streaming – The live stream is embedded above but you can also watch in other ways on many other devices. Stream on the CBSN app across a number of devices, including Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV. You can also stream the debate on CBS All Access.
Debate Candidates
Here is the list of candidates that will take the stage tonight in Charleston:
- Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders
- Former Vice President Joe Biden
- Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren
- Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar
- Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg
- Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
- Businessman Tom Steyer
Debate Moderators
The debate will be moderated by a panel of five anchors, all hailing from CBS News:
- Norah O’Donnell – “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor
- Gayle King – “CBS This Morning” co-host
- Magaret Brennan – “Face the Nation” moderator and senior foreign affairs correspondent
- Major Garrett – Chief Washington correspondent
- Bill Whitaker – “60 Minutes” correspondent
What to Watch For
With South Carolina as the last stop before more than a dozen states vote on Super Tuesday, the stakes are as high as they come for former vice president Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders. With that in mind, and the flogging dished out to Mike Bloomberg last week, the South Carolina debate could be more of the same in terms of attacks and last-minute attempts by struggling candidates to create momentum:
At Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina, both Mike Bloomberg and Bernie Sanders might as well be wearing bull’s eyes.
Bloomberg, who struggled to respond to his rivals’ critiques at last week’s debate, is “still going to be the target of a great deal of attack,” said Mitchell McKinney, a professor of political communication at the University of Missouri. “One thing that we’ll be watching is to see if he’s able to sort of fortify himself, develop more coherent responses.”
Other Democratic White House hopefuls can’t let the billionaire former New York mayor “off the mat” after piling on him a week ago because he’s “vying for the same votes as the non-Bernie [bloc],” said KBW analyst Brian Gardner in a note. Bloomberg, for his part, reportedly shifted his schedule Monday to build in more time for debate prep.
Meanwhile, Sanders “will have a target on his back” because the Vermonter, one of two Senate independents, is the clear front-runner after his bigger-than-expected win over the weekend in Nevada’s caucuses, Gardner added.
It’s no surprise that Bloomberg spent time on Monday doing more debate prep, he certainly needs it. He spent almost the entire Nevada debate playing defense and looking unprepared. Bernie Sanders will also have to be more prepared for perhaps a greater onslaught from Joe Biden, and others, given his front runner status coming off victories in New Hampshire and now Nevada.
We will have the complete debate video available after the debate airs. The next debate is set for Sunday, March 15, on CNN.
The South Carolina Democratic primary takes place on Saturday, February 29.
