Democratic debate in Los Angeles

The first question tonight in the Democratic debate was on the impeachment of President Trump and was directed at former Vice President Joe Biden who called it a "constitutional necessity."

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The sixth Democratic primary debate has just started in Los Angeles.

Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Andrew Yang, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Tom Steyer and Amy Klobuchar have taken the debate stage at Loyola Marymount University.

The size of the Democratic field has been historic. The latest proof: The seven Democratic candidates on the debate stage on tonight make up less than half of the 15-person Democratic primary field — a first for the 2020 nominating process. 

And that has led those candidates left off the stage to fight for attention ahead and around the debate, in part, because they know the three-hour event will offer their top polling counterparts a wealth of exposure.

Julián Castro, the former Housing and Urban Development Secretary under President Barack Obama, will live tweet the debate from afar. His campaign on Thursday released a new television ad on his opposition to Iowa and New Hampshire going first in the nominating process.

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who will be missing his first debate, will air his first TV ad of the campaign during the Democratic debate. In the spot titled “Together,” Booker says: “You’re only going to see this ad once, because I’m not a billionaire.” 

Michael Bloomberg, a late entrant to the Democratic race who has spent around $100 million to prop up his poll numbers, unveiled his health care proposal today, injecting himself into the most contentious and closely watched debate inside the Democratic primary. Bloomberg is getting behind a public option plan that positions the former New York mayor more in line with moderate candidates like former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and firmly against the progressive "Medicare for All" approach championed by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, another late entrant, released the outlines of his policy agenda today, a four-pillared policy vision that includes an opportunity agenda, a reform agenda, a democracy agenda and a foreign policy agenda.

And Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, hours after she broke with the Democratic Party and voted "present" on the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

None of these moves will break through the attention created by the final debate of 2019, but it shows how the candidates who don’t make the stage are still fighting to stay relevant.

At the fifth Democratic presidential debate in November, the leading Democratic candidates made strong appeals to African American voters — particularly women — and drew a direct line between recreating the coalition that elected President Barack Obama in 2008 and defeating President Trump in 2020.

Debating in a Deep South state where black voters will likely be the majority of the Democratic electorate in the March primary, the discussion over who could best represent that community drew the most fireworks in an otherwise civil debate among the 2020 candidates in Atlanta.

Questions from the MSNBC/Washington Post moderators on the thorny topic of race drew charged exchanges between Sen. Cory Booker and former Vice President Joe Biden, as well as South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Kamala Harris, who has since dropped out.

The debate struck at the core of the electability argument taking place within the primary. Both Booker and Harris, the two black candidates on stage, argued that Democrats must nominate a candidate in 2020 who understands the issues facing those communities if the party intends to activate and bring out enough voters on Election Day to defeat Trump.

Biden's solid support from black female voters, who have so often been the linchpin for successful Democratic nominees, has bolstered his standing in the polls, particularly in states like South Carolina. Booker, Harris, Buttigieg and Sen. Elizabeth Warren all sought to loosen his grip on that key constituency in the debate.

Former Vice President Joe Biden plans to release a list of his bundlers, his aides told reporters in a pre-debate briefing today in Los Angeles. The aides didn’t commit to a date to release that list.

The aides said Biden intends to focus on two policy areas — health care and foreign policy — in tonight’s debate.

They also said he’ll spend much of the month of January in Iowa, saying it’ll be the focus of Biden’s retail politicking efforts over other early voting and Super Tuesday states. They said they plan to focus on one-on-one engagement with voters, and touted Biden’s recent Iowa bus tour as an example.

The aides said they’ve seen improvement in Iowa, where polls had shown him at risk of a fourth-place showing, during and after the bus tour — and think spending more time in the state is essential.

Overall, aides said they believe Biden’s poll numbers have been at the floor of his potential overall support, whereas they believe other candidates have hit their ceilings. “Dating season is over. Who are you gonna marry?” an aide said in describing the environment facing Democratic candidates.

The aides said to the extent the debate focuses on impeachment, Biden’s team believes the proceedings in Washington have underscored their message that Trump and Rudy Giuliani have been pushing “conspiracy theories” about the Biden family that have no basis in fact.

President Trump's impeachment in the House is likely to come up at the Democratic debate tonight.

The House voted last night to impeach Trump on two articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

The Senate will now hold a trial to consider if he should be removed from office.

Why this matters: Six of the Democrats seeking their party's presidential nomination currently serve as US senators and will need to be in Washington if the Senate convenes a trial. This will make the tonight's debate even more critical as it could be the last time these candidates will have a national stage until the next debate in January.

The most diverse field of Democratic presidential candidates in history is now boiled down to a debate stage that lacks black or Latino candidates. 

The seven candidates who met the polling and fundraising minimums to qualify for the debate in Los Angeles includes one person of color: entrepreneur Andrew Yang. 

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker will miss the stage for the first time, and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro is off-stage for the second time. California Sen. Kamala Harris dropped out of the race, and a late entrant, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, hasn't yet come close to qualifying for a debate. 

The trimmed-down debate lineup has frustrated some Democratic donors, operatives and activists who hoped to see a field more representative of the party's base. It also underscores a reality of the 2020 race: Polls and fundraising numbers reflect that candidates of color just aren't getting much support from voters of color.

"The dominance of white candidates in the race confirms something we should have already known: The political system was not set up to include candidates of color," Democratic strategist Jess Morales Rocketto said.

"As the Democratic Party begins to align its leaders with its base, the party apparatus needs to address the systemic barriers that still exist for non-white candidates," she continued. "It's not on the party to solve racism or sexism, but it is on them to make sure they address systemic barriers for non-white candidates."

The smaller debate stage might reflect the favorites of established Democratic voters and donors, but makes it harder to expand the party's electorate, some organizers said.

Only seven candidates qualified for the sixth Democratic primary debate.

Democratic candidates needed to receive 4% in at least four national or early state polls that met the DNC's criteria, or 6% in two early state polls.

Candidates had to also receive donations from at least 200,000 unique donors, with a minimum of 800 from at least 20 different states. The DNC has been raising the thresholds for the contests, slowly shrinking the field of Democrats on the high-profile debate stages.

These candidates didn't make the cut:

A labor dispute between a California union and a catering provider had threatened to derail the Democratic primary debate tonight.

All seven Democratic presidential candidates who met the qualifications to participate in tonight debate declared their support last week for Unite Here Local 11 and said they would not participate in the debate if they had to cross the union's picket line.

The announcements threw the debate planning into turmoil as top officials from the Democratic National Committee, including chairman Tom Perez, spent the weekend frantically working the phones to come to a resolution.

On Tuesday, the union announced that an agreement was reached with Sodexo, the catering provider at Loyola Marymount University.

Some background: Originally, the University of California, Los Angeles, was going to host the December debate, but the DNC moved it to Loyola Marymount over a separate labor dispute.

But less than a week before the debate, Unite Here 11 made its own labor dispute with Sodexo public, leading Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Andrew Yang, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Tom Steyer and Amy Klobuchar all to say they would not participate in the debate if the issue was not resolved.

Most of the campaigns did not change their plans, indicating that they believed the debate would go on as planned. Many are already on the West Coast for events and fundraisers.