Bernie. Hillary. That other guy. Third and final Democratic debate of the year.
On ABC. Live televised programming starts at 8pm Eastern Time, 7pm Central, 6pm, Mountain, 5pm Pacific, 3pm Hawaii-Aleutian, and 9am Casey (Antarctica) Time, where they live in the future. The actual debate supposedly starts a half-hour later. Lasts two hours.
So it’ll be on your local ABC station. You can also find it at the ABC News website (alternate link here) and on ABC Radio. ABC News applications for watching the debate through a variety of options are available here. No login will be necessary to watch the live stream from interwebbing sources.
Right now, the national polling average has Clinton around 56 percent, with Sanders right about 30 percent and that other guy a hopeless third at approximately 3 or 4 percent.
The debate moderators will be ABC News’ David Muir and Martha Raddatz. It’s kind of amusing that the third moderator was supposed to be someone from local Manchester news station WMUR, but the Democratic National Committee nixed the affiliate and moderator from co-hosting the debate because of an unresolved labor dispute. Regarding the decision to drop WMUR from involvement in the debate, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz told New Hampshire Public Radio, “We simply asked that the negotiations be at least scheduled prior to our debate so that we could make sure that those workers had an opportunity to take the next step in the process. (WMUR) refused to do that.”
The New Hampshire Union Leader, another news outlet in the area, is still on as a partner with ABC for the debate.
Expect the debate to address the voter data file dust-up that’s had the Bernie Sanders camp pitted against the Hillary Clinton camp and the DNC for a few days. Though the issue is apparently being addressed now, it could add some sparks to tonight’s broadcast.
In addition, expect the candidates to talk about controlling your arms–not those, silly, I mean your guns…your firearms…your weapons that are used for assaulting people and stuff…your semi-automatic neo-muskets. The pacifistic war they want to wage against terrorism will probably come up for discussion, as well as their plans to force companies to raise their wages, force Americans to pay more taxes, shove more fundamental changes to the health care system down our throats, and close the holes in all those loop-de-loops. They will also undoubtedly tell its meager Saturday night audience how they will save the planet from mankind’s biggest threat–the planet-eaters known as mankind.
So it could be an amusing couple of hours. Or frustrating. Or vomit-inducing. It depends on your individual tolerance levels.
Or you could find something else to do with your valuable pre-holiday weekend time. Like watch a football game. Go see a small independent space opera. Stare at the cold, quiet, unfeeling darkness outside your window, looking forlorn like that other guy. This open thread is here for you to discuss those other things, too.
The next debate after this one will be on Thursday, January 14th, 2016, when the Republicans square off again. The next Democratic debate will happen the following Sunday, on January 17th, 2016. The Iowa caucuses take place on February 1st, and the New Hampshire primary election is on February 9th of next year.
Have a decent Saturday evening, everyone.
