Subscribe by RSSThe final, and possibly most confrontational, Democratic debate will take place tonight, Thursday, January 31, 2008 on CNN at 8pm eastern, 5pm pacific.
Here’s a story on it from USAToday:
It’s fitting that tonight’s Democratic presidential debate will be held at Los Angeles’ Kodak Theatre, home of the Oscars and one of Hollywood’s most hallowed monuments to the stars.
Star power rocks on the campaign trail these days, with an unprecedented number of actors, entertainers and sports figures stumping for candidates
And it’s not only the phalanx of celebrities attempting to influence the primary races; it’s also what they’re doing. In years past, most stars have been content to endorse and bankroll candidates and make high-profile appearances. But this year, with the race still open and 22 states up for grabs on Super Tuesday next week, celebrities have been working in key states earlier, in greater numbers and more extensively than ever.
It will be 90 minutes and feature, of course, just Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in a one-on-one match as we move into Super Tuesday, Feb. 5th.
Later today I’ll have some preview video and more coverage later tonight along with a live chat.
Update
Here’s a short video preview:
We’ll have a live chat starting around 8pm eastern followed by video clips and analysis. Of course, concluding with the entire debate video later tonight.
Update @ 5:36pm ET
Another report from CNN:
Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will duel for Super Tuesday votes Thursday night as the Democratic presidential hopefuls face off for the first time together minus former Sen. John Edwards.
The debate — sponsored by CNN, the Los Angeles Times and Politico — starts at 8 p.m. ET Thursday on CNN and CNN.com. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer is the moderator.
The event is the first Democratic debate since Obama’s convincing victory Saturday in South Carolina. On Tuesday, Clinton won the Florida primary, a contest her campaign said helped the senator regain momentum even though it awarded no delegates.
The forum at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood comes hours after the Obama campaign revealed it had raised $32 million in January from roughly 170,000 new donors. That amount will allow Obama to expand his television ad buys greatly in the 20-plus states holding primaries or caucuses Tuesday. Watch a time-lapse construction of the debate set
The Clinton campaign would not indicate how much money it had raised in the same time period.
There has been a lot of heated rhetoric between Clinton and Obama over the past week. I think a lot of it is building and we may see some real fireworks tonight. If Obama is smart, he’ll be able to make her look divisive over the issues of race and gender. If he can basically embarrass her over the statements her husband has made, he will look like the better candidate, as if he’s above the fray of divisive politics. If I’m Obama, I would be trying to bait Hillary into going over the line and coming off as mean-spirited such as the “slum lord” comment at the Jan 21. CNN Democratic debate.
I think Hillary has to try and catch Obama’s lack of experience on some issues and perhaps hold it up for inspection. I’m not sure what else she can do other than perhaps try and paint Obama as the divisive one. I don’t see how that can stick really because her husband has made all the news over his controversial statements. If she could pin Obama down on some of the specific details of the plans and policies he’s offered up in the past couple months, he may not have very good answers for them.
Should be a good show tonight starting at 8pm eastern, 5pm pacific on CNN.
Update
Join the live debate chat here
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I have been following both Republican and Democratic debates for the past several months, and based on previous debates, here is my prediction of how tonights debate between Obama and Clinton will be preceived by “analyst”, whether true or not:
Clinton: It will be said that Clinton appeared “Presidential”, she was focused in her thought, and that she won most of the exchanges between her and Obama. In her responses,it would be clear that she has her eyes already set on the General election and that Obama just couldn’t not break her momentum.
Obama: If he does not challenge Clinton, it will be said that he appeared weak and not engaging enough. It will be said that Clinton overshadowed him. If he attacks her positions, it will be said that he spent the night trying to break her momentum instead of speaking about issues that matter.
The point is:
I believe this entire election process has been undermined by the amount of coverage that so called analyst have been given to tell Americans what they are watching instead of letting us decide on our own. For some reason, it’s already been decided that McCain and Clinton will be headed to head for the general election and all Americans haven’t even voted yet. How could this be? The media has learned over the years, that television is the most powerful medium in this country that influence what people think. Stations like CNN MSNBC & FOX have dedicated almost all programming to so called analyst, in a planned effort to influence undecided voters on this election. Minutes after the debate is over, watch….these so called analyst will do the same as whats been done this entire process: attempt to influence undecided voters for a candidate they want to see elected. Yesterdays Republican debate was a perfect example, McCain was horrible, and did not present himself as being excited and ready to be President….but of course, the “analyst” say..”Romney didn’t attack McCain enough to stop McCains momentum. and this debate really won’t change voters mind” WTF
I COMPLETELY agree with you.
I want to qualify my statement by saying that I voted for Bill Clinton in ‘92 and ‘96 , looking back it was as much for the democratic agenda , and for it’s closeness to my personal views , as it was against what I view as backward thinking , and socially stagnant views of the ‘ultra-right-wing’ movements in my country.
that being said … Now for the first time I can remember , I see and hear a living candidate that not only holds views that I agree with but inspires me to look at new ways of approaching the serious life issues facing us as a people .. as Americans.
I now can see and hear a candidate who makes me want to shout ..
“this is why I so love my country … this is what we can do , that no other country in the world can yet dare to dream”
that candidate , that person , is Barack Obama … I hear , and I dare to believe .. WE CAN.
Why aren’t these debates on local channels so as many people can watch them as possible and more people will stumble upon them more easily as well????
I think part of it had to do with the writer’s strike. Not that they need writers, but that all the Democratic candidates refused to cross the picket line and participate in a debate that was to be broadcast on CBS in December. I think the networks, besides ABC on January 5th, basically gave up on them. The cable news networks have scheduled so many that there wasn’t even time if the networks wanted to hold them.
But I agree, they should be on the major broadcast networks, at least a couple debates, so that more people will have access. That’s why I’ve got them all in our 2008 debate video archive:
http://www.youdecide2008.com/video
Thanks. Cnn has it live as a streaming video but it’s not working on my computer so I await your video archive. How soon will it be up here?
CNN is bias! The Newspeople are always against the strongest candidate (i.e. Hillary Clinton).
With Hillary Clinton as President, the U.S. might be respected again. She will end our war quickly! Hillary has the experience, a proven record of helping people, and she in sincere. She has made change and she will continue to make change.
Unfortunately, Obama has no experience and no record of change. The reason why the Republican’s and Politican’s nominate Obama is because he is the weaker Democratic candidate and will not win against a Republican.
Hillary, on the other hand, will win if she is the Democratic candidate.