Biden, Sanders, Buttigieg to debate; Warren on separate night

[Skya Rhen]

Former Vice President Joe Biden will face off against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg in the first Democratic presidential debate this month, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) appearing on a different night, NBC announced Friday.
This arrangement would leave Warren as the only top-tier candidate on stage the night of her debate. She would also not get the chance to go after either Biden or Sanders.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) would also be in the debate with Biden.


https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/448596-biden-sanders-buttigieg-to-debate-warren-on-separate-night

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Drat. I wanted to see her vs. Bernie.

[redstatebluegirl]

13. I agree, I think she would be formidable against him in a debate.

[Hortensis]

21. We will. :) Notably, SHE LEADS on the first night,

along with Booker, Beto, Klobuchar, Castro as the Hispanic candidate, Inslee for climate. But she's the only top-tier candidate this night. Big opportunity for all.

Those others follow the second night, a distinct disadvantage if they hadn't put the two top leaders plus Harris and Buttigieg, and others, there to keep people engaged.

Here’s who will be debating on the first night, June 26:
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar
Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney
Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
Former Housing and Urban Development secretary Julián Castro
Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee

And here’s who will be debating on the second night, June 27:

California Sen. Kamala Harris
Former Vice President Joe Biden
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders
South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg
New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet
Author and speaker Marianne Williamson
California Rep. Eric Swalwell
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang
Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper

[KPN]

2. Hmmmm ... how are these decisions made? Who makes them and how?

Edit: Oops, nevermind. Right here:
[link:https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287150939|

Glad they use a drawing to provide some randomness.

[Thomas Hurt]

3. I am guessing whatever match ups the media thinks will draw the most viewers.

[qazplm135]

5. mostly random

they more or less drew lots for the top tier and lower tier folks to sprinkle among the two evenings

Luck of the draw put most of the top, top tier folks on one day and Warren on the second day.

[question everything]

6. The idea was to split the poll leaders in two groups

Meaning Biden, Sanders, Warren, Harris and Buttigieg should be split. Only Warren was removed.

But, then, for all I know many of the 65,000 donors came from Republicans to throw chaos..

[OKNancy]

15. I also put how it was done in post 14

in this thread.

[peggysue2]

4. I don't understand this split but . . .

it will give Warren and O'Rourke a chance to shine or have a breakout moment.

Don't get bunching together the rest of the current leaders--Biden, Sanders, Buttigieg, Harris.

On the other hand, I guess there is no perfect mix.

[INdemo]

7. Looks like Tom Perez may be stacking the deck for Biden

Warren should be able to be on the same stage with Biden and Sanders..
This is not a debate this is a DNC challenge

[marylandblue]

8. Seems to me this hurts Biden and helps Warren

Biden will have 3 heavy hitters against him. Warren will have nobody unless O'Rourke makes a breakout.

[JustAnotherGen]

11. Hmm

I think Booker and Castro are her concern. Beto has too much fluff. He has a lot of preparation to do to get up to speed with those three policy wonks.

[BannonsLiver]

10. Annnnd here we go with the kooky conspiracy theories.

[stonecutter357]

12. wtf ?

[OKNancy]

16. see post 14.

[nolabear]

17. OFFS

What would make you happy?

[bullwinkle428]

23. If he wanted to do that, I was thinking he'd put Joe up against the

"minor placings" (cycling term) candidates; i.e., DeBlasio, Williamson, Delaney, Bennet, etc.

He would then have all of the remaining big guns going against each other. If anything, this is going to help Elizabeth Warren gain even more of a following.

[Indygram]

9. I actually think this works in both Warren and Beto's advantage

This first debate isn't going to give candidates a whole lot of time to stand out as it is and it will actually be easier for them both to be standouts in that group. The others in the second group are going to all be fighting to one up each other. She and Beto will get slapped at most and they will have more opportunity to give rebuttals.

[OKNancy]

14. This was how it was decided. THere was no "stacking the deck" for anyone

They ranked the 20 candidates by polls and $ (just like how they decided the 20)
They put the top 10 in one container, and the bottom 10 in another.
Then they drew names from one container, then the other one.
Like this: top 10, bottom 10, top ten, bottom 10..and so on.

Candidate representatives were there to observe.

[George II]

19. Yeahbut....the fact that the DNC was involved invariably elicits comments like some we're seeing.

[Hortensis]

22. Invariably no matter what. Those you're talking about

are not reality or truth based, only partisan. Left wing version of trumpster mentality.

I might put too much blame on Sanders, not for his own actions, but for what happened when he sicced people vulnerable to conspiracism on the DNC as an evil villain. Or maybe not. But, after all, his willingness to feed them anti-DNC messages is a big part of what drew them, it didn't create them. Like him, they're responsible for their own behavior and for what they believe today. If not him, straight to Jill Stein, Johnson, and/or Trump, don't pass the primaries "go"?

[emmaverybo]

18. These aren't judged by academic debate standards. Sometimes the sharper debater conveys the

impression he or she suffers a superiority complex. Maybe primaries are different.

As to the general, I recall Reagan, according to popular and media perception, winning a debate in which he gave a rambling, near incoherent final statement, looking utterly lost, and Bush, such an obvious dullard against the intellectually superior Gore, seen as the better debater in what must have been a sympathy call.

It is said that the public doesn’t pay a lot of attention to policy, more to a general impression they
get from a candidate’s demeanor, warm or cold, animated or sluggish, engaging or aloof. Not sure
this conventional wisdom applies to Democratic debates this cycle.

But I wouldn't bet on the most articulate, fluent, policy-savy debater winning this round.
I wouldn’t count out Biden. Although I don’t expect to see the moral knock-out young Senator Biden scored against Alexander Haig, cutting his cagey obfuscations to shreds, he has an emotional presence and authority that can outshine more deft debaters.

[SouthernProgressive]

20. For the first debate I think it's good that the top two contenders are on separate nights.

That can't happen after the first debate. Warren and Biden are the "it" thing right now. They will both have an opportunity to shine on their own night. After that, it has to be head to head. Then again, we don't know where the polls will be after that.