| | | | Welcome to the second of two special Democratic debate editions of The Point.
Things kick off tonight at 9 Eastern from Miami, aired by NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo. | | | Can Buttigieg avoid the Beto bust? |  | | On Wednesday night, the onetime king of 2020 buzz -- Beto O'Rourke -- flopped on the national debate stage. Tonight, the current buzz king -- Pete Buttigieg -- gets tested for the first time in a major way on that same debate stage -- and will do everything in his power to avoid bombing like Beto.
Thursday night's presidential debate comes at a very difficult time for the youthful mayor of South Bend, Indiana. After an absolutely meteoric rise in the presidential race -- polling suggests he's in the lower end of the lead pack -- Buttigieg has been faced with a major problem at home: the officer-involved shooting of an African-American man, who later died.
Buttigieg has effectively put his presidential campaign on hold as he tries to deal with the fallout from the shooting, which has included protests and an extremely contentious town hall in which black residents of South Bend demanded action from the mayor.
Getting ready for your first national debate is one thing. Doing so with a major crisis still bubbling back at home is another. It's hard to believe that Buttigieg did the same sort of debate prep -- or is in the same sort of frame of mind -- as he would have had this shooting and the resultant firestorm not occurred.
Of course, he'll get no sympathy for the challenges of the last few weeks on the debate stage tonight. Aside from former Vice President Joe Biden, the clear front-runner for the 2020 Democratic nod, Buttigieg will be the most closely watched candidate onstage.
Is he all foam and no beer? (Hat tip, Amy Klobuchar.) Is there substance behind the sizzle?
That's a conversation that was going to happen no matter how O'Rourke performed on Wednesday night. But with O'Rourke's flop, there will be even more attention paid to whether Buttigieg has the depth to go the distance in this race.
The Point: Buttigieg comes into this debate under less than ideal circumstances. Regardless, the stakes for him remain extremely high. And no one is grading him on a curve.
-- Chris | | "I'm a candidate."
-- John Hickenlooper to a security guard who did not recognize the presidential candidate trying to pick up his debate credentials. | | | With proposals like a $1,000/month universal basic income and a remarkably candid Twitter presence, Andrew Yang has lit corners of the internet ablaze.
But having a reach on the internet goes only so far for a candidate like Yang with low name recognition (42% of Democratic voters had never heard of him, as of May).
Tonight, Yang needs to not only introduce himself to a national audience for the first time, but show he can truly tangle with the top-tier candidates like Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. | | Stay tuned for "Medicare for All."
It's one of the major policy fault lines in the current Democratic field. It came up last night and will SURELY resurface tonight, especially with Bernie Sanders onstage.
Sanders championed Medicare for All, which would create universal health care coverage through the federal government, during his 2016 presidential run. It's now become a litmus test of sorts for the Democratic primary field.
Joe Biden also will likely be asked to answer for this. In April, he endorsed a public option that would allow Americans to buy into a Medicare-like health insurance plan, rather than Sanders' single-payer system. | | | Debate Night 2: Electric Boogaloo! If you missed our Spotify soundtrack yesterday, never fear: Here it is again! | | Kirsten Gillibrand held three mock debates with two aides by her side playing different opponents.
Joe Biden has spent time studying his own record.
Bernie Sanders has looked for ways to contrast his views with those of other candidates.
John Hickenlooper asked supporters to play his opponents in mock debates. | | This first round of debates is historic, in part, because of the diversity of the candidates onstage.
For the first time ever, six women (Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday and Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand and Marianne Williamson on Thursday) are on the national debate stage as candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination.
We also see a significant spread of candidates from different backgrounds, including a historic number of minorities, veterans and different ages. | | | | | | |
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