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Primary Debates and Forums
Tuesday, October 13, 2015 at the Wynn Las Vegas in Las Vegas, NV.
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Tuesday, October 13, 2015 from 9:00-11:00 p.m. E.T.
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Sponsors: CNN
and Facebook.
Candidates: Lincoln Chafee, Hillary
Clinton, Martin O'Malley, Bernie Sanders and Jim Webb.
Moderator: CNN anchor Anderson Cooper. CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash and CNN en Español anchor Juan Carlos Lopez asked additional questions, and anchor Don Lemon presented questions to the candidates submitted through Facebook.
Audience:
Broadcast: Live on CNN, CNN en Español, CNN International, and streamed on CNNgo. Westwood One served as the exclusive radio broadcaster.
Format:
Two
hours.
Overview:
Since
the
DNC
announced
its primary debate
schedule on August 6, critics pushed for more and earlier
debates. The O'Malley campaign in particular made a major
issue of the need for more debates (+),
and
some
supporters
of
Bernie
Sanders
joined
in
as
well.
Shouts
of "more debates" punctuated DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz's
speech
at the New Hampshire Democratic Party Convention on Sept.
19. By the
time this debate was held the Republican candidates had already met
twice, on Aug. 6 in Cleveland, OH and on Sept. 16 in Simi Valley, CA.
In the lead up to the debate, there was a
lot of speculation about whether Vice President Joe Biden would enter
the race. CNN even had a podium at the ready. Biden of
course did not appear, but the Draft Biden super PAC ran an several
times during the debate (+).
Underdog
candidate Larry Lessig made a big push to be included (+) but did not succeed.
However, most
of
the
attention
in
the
Democratic
race before the debate focused on
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. This debate change did not
change that
dynamic. Many commentators opined that Hillary Clinton had won
the debate or at least did very well, and her performance strengthened
her frontrunner status. Meanwhile, Martin O'Malley did not have a
breakthrough moment and Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee had little impact;
indeed within a couple of weeks following the debate both ended their
campaigns for the Democratic nomination.