A viewers’ guide to the first Democratic debate of 2016 race

For Democratic presidential candidates not named Hillary Clinton, Tuesday night’s debate is a chance to introduce themselves and their ideas to millions of Americans and, if they’re lucky, convince those potential voters to care.

“The best debaters are those who don’t look like they rehearsed their one-liners thousands of times, and who know how to demonstrate command of the issues without being the annoying kid from class who always raised their hand to every question”, Tracy Sefl, a former advisor to a Clinton super PAC, told USA Today. The Fox News poll, which was released the day of the first Democratic debate, shows Clinton with 45 percent support, while Sanders has 25 percent support and Biden (who is not yet a candidate) has 19 percent support.

“I think there will be a question about Donald Trump, but I think it will go by very quickly”, said Arterton. But he has not announced his decision and is not expected to participate in the debate, which starts in Sin City at about 6:00 pm (0100 GMT Wednesday).

Unlike the Sanders and Bill Clinton campaigns, Simmons said Hillary’s campaign does not appear to have a central theme.

Clinton still leads in polls nationally, but Sanders has overtaken her in a few recent Iowa and New Hampshire polls. Clinton’s poll numbers and approval ratings have dipped as a result. Mrs. Clinton has, for her part, done the same. Her campaign has so far been tight-lipped about what their candidate has been doing to prepare for Tuesday’s debate.

Watch for gun control, trade, banks and foreign policy to take center stage, said Michael Cheney, a professor of communication and economics at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

The Democratic presidential debate will produce exactly zero new Donald Trump gifs, but it will give us plenty of other things to talk about. She reversed course to announce her opposition to the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that she had praised when she was secretary of state, and she rejected the Keystone XL pipeline that she had said in 2010 she was inclined to approve.

For Sanders, a rumpled, self-declared democratic socialist, Tuesday night will be the biggest test of his decades-long political career.

For months, Clinton and Sanders have circled each other cautiously and avoided personal attacks.

While there is unlikely to be a dramatic clash of personalities as seen in the first two Republican debates, the former secretary of state will no doubt face pressure from the upstart senator in their much-anticipated encounter. Jim Webb and Rhode Island Gov. Martin O’Malley are the long shots, trying to break out of the back of the pack.

“He also runs the risk of being the angry guy on the stage and no one votes for the angry guy”, he added.

Expect former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley to be the most aggressive.

Also looking for a breakthrough will be former Virginia Sen.

It’s now or never for Webb and Chafee, neither of whom do any real campaigning, Rynard said.

Chafee is perhaps an even bigger mystery, although a less interesting one. Instead, it’s whether she can change the focus from emails she sent and received over a private server as secretary of state to the policies she’s proposed to close the gap between rich Americans and everyone else.

The Democratic Party is split regarding whether Joe Biden should enter the field. He won’t be there.

CNN has not given up hope though. Polling of that race at this point, when neither party has even selected their nominee and it’s not entirely clear what the main issues of the campaign will be, is really quite premature and not entirely useful for much of anything.