CBS NEWS ANNOUNCES PLANS AND PANELISTS FOR DIVISION-WIDE, MULTI-PLATFORM COVERAGE OF ITS DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE ON NOV. 14 AT DRAKE UNIVERSITY IN DES MOINES, IOWA

CBS News’ Nancy Cordes, CBS Des Moines Affiliate KCCI’s Kevin Cooney and the Des Moines Register’s Kathie Obradovich Will Join Principal Moderator John Dickerson

            CBS News announced today details of its division-wide, multi-platform coverage of the Democratic presidential debate on Nov. 14, 2015 (9:00 PM-11:00 PM, ET/6:00 PM-8:00 PM, PT) at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. The debate, the first on a broadcast network this campaign season, will air live on the CBS Television Network, in conjunction with CBS’s Des Moines affiliate KCCI and the Des Moines Register.

            Joining FACE THE NATION anchor and principal moderator John Dickerson as panelists will be CBS News Congressional Correspondent Nancy Cordes, KCCI anchor Kevin Cooney and the Des Moines Register’s political columnist Kathie Obradovich.           

            Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley have been invited to participate in the debate.

CBSN, CBS News’ digital streaming news network, will offer a special 9:00 PM, ET/6:00 PM, PT stream of the debate, enhanced with real-time Twitter trends, instant reactions, curated Tweets and other key information onscreen. CBSN's live, anchored coverage will be available to users across all leading digital platforms, including key connected TV devices, mobile devices, and online. CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett will kick off CBSN’s pre-debate coverage at 8:00 PM, ET/5:00 PM, PT live from Drake University and anchor post-debate coverage at 11:00 PM, ET/8:00 PM, PT.

           CBS News’ partnership with Twitter will provide viewers with an enhanced experience that will extend across the Network’s broadcast coverage and on CBSN. The official hashtag will be #DemDebate.

           CBS Radio News will offer live, anchored coverage of the debate to its 600 affiliates. The debate coverage will be available on the CBS Radio News digital stream on Radio.com and on its iPhone and Android apps.

           Immediately afterward, CBS Newspath correspondents will provide live reports to CBS affiliates around the country. Weijia Jiang and Marlie Hall will be in Des Moines covering the debate and the news surrounding it.

           CBS News’ extensive coverage of the debate will continue on Nov. 15, when Dickerson anchors FACE THE NATION live from Drake University in Des Moines.

            The Democratic debate is the first of two such events CBS News will broadcast this election season. CBS News will also broadcast a Republican debate from Greenville, S.C. on Feb. 13, 2016. The format as well as additional event details will be released at a later date.

* * *

Drake scheduled to host nationally televised DNC debate

Drake University and the Iowa Democratic Party will host a live, nationally televised debate among Democratic presidential candidates in Sheslow Auditorium on November 14, 2015. The event broadcast by CBS News and KCCI, in conjunction with The Des Moines Register, will be the Democratic National Committee’s only sanctioned presidential candidate debate in Iowa prior to the state’s first-in-the-nation caucuses on February 1.

“We are honored to again play a central role in the presidential election process,” said Drake University President Earl F. Martin. “As Des Moines’ largest private university we believe we have a core responsibility to promote civil dialogue and serve as a hub for civic and political engagement. From our location in Iowa’s capital, we are proud to have developed a reputation as the capital of the Iowa caucuses."

The Drake University campus has become a fixture in the nation’s presidential election process. The University has hosted at least one nationally televised presidential candidate debate during each presidential campaign cycle since 2007, extending Drake’s visibility to millions of households across the country and around the world.

Additional details of the Nov. 14 debate, including time, ticket information, and moderators, are forthcoming from Drake, CBS News and the Democratic National Committee.

In addition, Drake is also set to host a pair of presidential candidate forums focused on issues of concern to minorities. The Brown and Black forum for Republican presidential candidates will be held Dec. 3, and the Brown and Black Forum for Democratic presidential candidates will be held Jan. 11, both in Sheslow Auditorium.

Drake students are among the chief beneficiaries of the campus’ vibrant political environment—and opportunities aren’t limited to students majoring in political science; law, politics, and society; journalism-related fields; and strategic political communications.

“Students of all fields of study have a rich diversity of opportunities to experience the political process in a variety of forms,” said Associate Professor of Political Science Rachel Paine Caufield, director of Drake’s Iowa Caucus Project. “Our students benefit from paid internships with national media outlets, personal meetings with candidates, interactions with hundreds of journalists, and prime seats to prime-time news events. We are excited about the opportunity to partner with CBS News, KCCI, and The Des Moines Register on this upcoming debate, and we look forward to a multitude of other opportunities that may arise this campaign season."

CBS NEWS WILL PRESENT AN EARLY DEBATE FOR DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES AND A CRITICAL FEBRUARY FACE-OFF FOR REPUBLICANS AS PART THE NETWORK’S EXTENSIVE CAMPAIGN 2016 COVERAGE