There will be 20 of the 23 candidates that will be appearing two nights this week for the first Democratic debate of this election cycle. There will be a lot on the line, especially for Biden, Sanders and Warren.
If Sanders and Warren go easy on Biden, there is a good chance they can never catch up. On the other hand, if they go after him, they could badly damage him and he might not recover and quite honestly, Crazy Joe is the sanest one of the bunch. (What a scary thought that is, huh?)
Not only that but the Democratic leadership has warned against damaging Biden, so look out for retribution.
With so many candidates onstage, the Democratic presidential debates risk becoming a stilted, parallel-play affair, with candidates trying to squeeze scripted messages into tiny scraps of airtime.
But the prospects of an unruly political feeding frenzy, particularly on the second night of the two-day extravaganza, have soared as former Vice President Joe Biden has thrown chum in the water: His provocative comments about race will tempt candidates to abandon restraint and go on the attack.
The back-to-back debates on Wednesday and Thursday nights could be a pivot point in the Democrats’ primary campaign, which for months has seen candidates refraining from criticizing one another — or doing so only in veiled terms.
The lineup includes Oprah Winfrey’s spiritual advisor and a congressman who meditates; the mayor of the nation’s largest city and the mayor of South Bend, Ind. The oldest candidate was born before Pearl Harbor; the youngest when Ronald Reagan was president.