History will be made at Tuesday’s debate in Ohio
Tuesday's Democratic primary debate in
The 12-candidate field is the largest televised presidential debate ever, topping the 11
And the three-hour match-up starting at
Analysts say those unprecedented dynamics generate several key questions about how the debate will go down:
• Will the rivals of front-runner
• Will any of the other 11
• Will candidates on the literal fringes of the debate, eager to meet increased polling thresholds to qualify for next month's contest in
But beyond such speculation lies a highly pragmatic question: Are these Democratic candidates too liberal to carry a state like
Over the past several months, Trump and the
When central
Last week,
Among the "far left" issues backed by at least some in the Democratic field that are cited by
• Taking away the ability of Americans to own private health insurance.
• Decriminalizing border crossings that are now illegal.
• Mandatory buybacks of guns like those often used in mass shootings.
• Free college and loan forgiveness that would cost billions.
• Embracing a Green New Deal that not only includes ambitious environmental goals such as achieving net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions in 10 years, but also a federal job guarantee with "a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations and retirement security" as well as "high-quality health care" and "affordable, safe and adequate housing."
"A plausible suggestion is increasing taxes on rich people, which could be very popular in
"There are a lot of Americans who will never be billionaires, but they would really like to be billionaires."
Same with
"There's seemingly some movement on what most Americans want in gun restrictions," Green said.
"But then Beto comes after these rifles. That's a frightening thing to many Americans."
On Thursday night, O'Rourke said that religious institutions should lose their tax-exempt status if they oppose same-sex marriage: "There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone ... that denies the full human rights or the full civil rights of every single one of us."
Even a seeming throwaway suggestion from
"I could just imagine the average American saying 'I don't like those tweets, but you can't ban someone from Twitter.'"
However, the rush to the left is rooted in political reality, Green said: "Everybody's playing to the base and they have to, because that's where they'll get the poll support, the finances and the people on the ground."
"It's not liberal or conservative, it's whose side you're on. And Trump is clearly not on the side of workers," said Brown, who strongly considered running for president himself while emphasizing a "dignity of work" theme.
"The vision of every one of these
"The one wild card is whether any of the other
"This is a dangerous path because it could be taken by Trump as validation, but Biden is also still the leading candidate in the field, and all the other candidates have an interest in him falling off," he said.
Green, noting health concerns about
"When people think about the presidency, one of the baseline thresholds for doing the job is you have to be healthy," he said.
Analysts agreed that the three candidates in the middle of the stage -- Biden, Sanders and Warren, who have been climbing in the polls -- are sure to take hits from the lesser-known
Candidates such as
The same goes for the remaining candidates on stage:
The debate in suburban
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