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The Seventh Democratic debate is set to take place Tuesday night in Des Moines, with only 6 candidates qualifying to participate just weeks before the Iowa Caucus on February 3

The seventh Democratic debate is set to take place Tuesday night in Des Moines, with only 6 candidates qualifying to participate just weeks before the Iowa Caucus on February 3. Among the small cast of candidates who qualified for the debate are Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Senator Amy Klobuchar, and billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer. Senator Cory Booker, who suspended his Presidential campaign monday, and entrepreneur Andrew Yang, both did not qualify for Tuesday’s debate after failing to poll at 5 percent in four different national polls, despite reaching the donor threshold of 225,000 unique donors. The two hour debate, which is scheduled to commence around 9 p.m. ET at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, is being co-hosted by The Des Moines Register and CNN, and will be moderated by the Register’s Brianne Pfannenstiel and CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Abby Phillip. ~ 

According to The New York Times, the Democratic field of candidates have spent almost 660 minutes total in six debates since June discussing the American political system and government. Topics such as healthcare (95.4 minutes), foreign policy (73.1 minutes), immigration (57.1 minutes), the economy (50.6 minutes), and civil rights and race issues (47.9 minutes) have been the focal points of the 2019 Democratic debates. However, issues such as the recent tensions with Iran, and the impeachment of President Trump, may be new areas of focus in tonight’s debate due to extensive controversy over these topics in previous weeks. ~

With the Iowa Caucus coming up in early February, according to Fox News, many top tier candidates may attempt to stay out of direct fire from lower-polling candidates due to the unique rules of the caucus system. Under the rules of the caucus system, if candidates do not gather enough support to elect a delegate – which is typically at least 15 percent of the caucus – then “their supporters move to one of the leading candidates – and help them win delegates.” According to recent polls, over 30 percent of Iowa Caucus-goers support a candidate who is unlikely to meet the threshold for winning delegates. ~

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