Democratic debate - winners and losers : Kamala Harris goes after Joe Biden over race comments as healthcare, gun control and the migrant crisis dominate event
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Your support makes all the difference.The second Democratic debate is over with the ten remaining candidates preparing for tonight's showdown.
California senator Kamala Harris confronted Joe Biden over his record on race, while the former vice president also took shots from candidates over his age and establishment credentials.
The other candidates taking part tonight were: Marianne Williamson, John Hickenlooper, Andrew Yang, Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Kirsten Gillibrand, Michael Bennet and Eric Swalwell.
Follow how the debate unfolded below:
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As was the case with Wednesday's debate, candidates will not have an opportunity to deliver opening remarks and will only have 60 seconds to respond to questions and 30 seconds to respond to follow-ups.
The Democratic candidates will have the opportunity to deliver closing remarks.
During Wednesday's debate, moderators Lester Holt, Savannah Guthrie, José Díaz-Balart, Chuck Todd and Rachel Maddow employed a mostly strict time-limit to ensure each candidate was able to speak.
But for some questions, the moderators simply asked for a show of hands rather than verbal answers from each of the 10 candidates.
An interesting, and perhaps unexpected, aspect of Wednesday night's debate was the decision of candidates Cory Booker and Beto O'Rourke to respond to questions in Spanish.
Julián Castro, the only Latino candidate, spoke Spanish during his closing statements.
On Twitter, candidate Andrew Yang, who will be on the debate stage tonight, joked: "My Spanish is terrible."
Marianne Williamson also joked that she needed to "learn Spanish by tomorrow night at 9".
Thursday's debate will have the interesting framework of age, as the stage will feature some of the youngest and oldest Democratic candidates facing off.
Sanders is the oldest candidate at 77, while Biden is 76.
Comparatively, Buttigieg is just 37 and Swalwell is 38.
As a reminder, tonight's debate will include the following Democratic candidates:
Former Vice President Joe Biden
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders
California Senator Kamala Harris
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
Colorado Senator Michael Bennet
California Representative Eric Swalwell
Author Marianne Williamson
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg
Businessman Andrew Yang
Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper
The debate will kick-off at 9pm and conclude at 11pm EST on NBC. It will also be broadcast on MSNBC and Telemundo, streamed online, and on Twitter and YouTube.
There is word that Joe Biden will not be appearing in the spin room after the debate.
That is the room where the candidates discuss their performance, or send out supporters to argue their case.
The hosts for this second debate are as follows:
Lester Holt, anchor of “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” and “Dateline NBC.”
Savannah Guthrie, co-anchor of “TODAY” and NBC News chief legal analyst.
Chuck Todd, moderator of “Meet the Press with Chuck Todd” and NBC News political director.
Rachel Maddow, host of “The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC.
Jose Díaz-Balart, anchor of “Noticias Telemundo” and “NBC Nightly News Saturday.”
Yesterday's debate involved sound issues with mics almost as soon as Maddow and Todd took over, they will hope that doesn't happen again.
From our correspondent Clark Mindock in Miami:
"Just ran into attendee Cornel West outside the debate buildings. He was kind of lost and asked directions to the entrance.
"As far as his expectations for the evening, Mr West said with a smile: 'well, we’re about to see the real visionary and courageous Bernie Sanders. He’s the real thing. Everybody’s imitating, everybody’s emulating, let’s hear the real thing!'"
Most candidates will be hopeful of nit repeating the type of mistake New York mayor and 2020 candidate Bill de Blasio who has apologied for using a phrase associated with Che Guevara - not a well-liked figure in Miami.
Here we go, we will be starting any second now with the candidates already on the stage.
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