After a stunning series of wins, Joe Biden has seized the mantle of frontrunner in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary race. Though Bernie Sanders' path to the nomination has narrowed, he persists on his campaign to upset the status quo.
As the coronavirus pandemic grips the US, the candidates met n their first one-on-one Democratic debate of this election cycle.
Without an audience, the former vice-president faced off against the Vermont senator after Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar all dropped out following Super Tuesday.
Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard remains in the race but did not qualify for the latest debate.
The debate gave the senator his biggest and best chance yet to frame his signature progressive policies to a national audience against the backdrop of the coronavirus crisis and its revelation of the kinds of national failures that his platform aims to address on a systemic and fundamental level.
Mr Biden, on the other hand, used the moment to highlight his front-runner status. As the clear delegate leader in the field, and without a stage of contenders competing for the spotlight, the former vice president was more focused and in-control than in previous debates.
"This is bigger than any one of us", he said.
He underlined their ideological differences, saying voters are "looking for results" and "not a revolution" — what would be a drawn-out political fight — while Mr Sanders stressed the "dysfunction" in government that has led to the inequities Americans are faced with in the midst of the crisis.
Both men supported picking a woman vice president, and both men rallied around defeating the incumbent in November by committing to campaign for the nominee.
Though Mr Biden's past — potential cuts to Social Security, wavering on abortion rights, supporting the Wall Street bailout, super PAC support — came back to haunt him, the debate fell away from substantive policy decisions and came back to the coronavirus threat, and whether the candidates are prepared to meet it.
The debate was originally scheduled to take place in Phoenix, Arizona but has been moved to Washington DC, days before another round of crucial primaries scheduled for 17 March: Florida (with 219 delegates), Illinois (155), Ohio (136) and Arizona (67).
There is one more Democratic debate in the primary calendar which will take place in April, as long as both Mr Biden and Mr Sanders are still in the race. A date and location for that debate have not yet been finalised.
Follow live coverage as it happened
Who are the moderators?
Jake Tapper, Dana Bash and Ilia Calderon will be the moderators for tonight's debate. Calderon has stepped up after Univision anchor Jorge Ramos decided to step down after making contact with someone who had tested positive for Covid-19.
The debate will begin at 8pm ET, airing on CNN, CNN En Espanol, CNN International, the CNN website and Univision.
Florida - 219
The podiums for tonight's debate will be six feet apart, as per coronavirus health guidelines:
Joe Biden offered Donald Trump his campaign's own coronavirus response plan.
Bernie Sanders held two briefings to call for a substantial public health response.
As the candidates prepare to take the debate stage, their role in combatting the outbreak has emerged as a central part of their platforms as the crisis grips Americans turning to government for an answer to the looming, if not viscerally present, threat.
Their responses offered a sharp contrast to Donald Trump, whose contradictory statements about Covid-19 has conflicted officials in his own administration.
For Sanders, coronavirus underlines the failures of the current healthcare and economic systems. For Biden, his call for "compassion" offers him a chance to set himself against Trump.
The public health emergency offers the candidates a singular issue by which to evaluate the efficacy of their platforms.
In a move to court progressives, Joe Biden is picking up a measure he's attributing to Bernie Sanders — though the Vermont senator introduced this version in 2017 and has since adopted free tuition regardless of income, mandating education as a right.
Neither. They opted for the elbow bump.
Joe Biden: "This is bigger than any one of us."
He outlines the remarks he gave earlier this week in response to Trump's national address.
Bernie Sanders said first, he would "shut up this president right now" as he undermines his own officials with his "blabbering" that's "confusing the public."
First, he says he would ensure that Americans aren't paying for their care: "Do not worry about the cost right now because we're in the middle of a national emergency." He says he would equip hospitals with equipment and personnel and ensure sick wages are paid.
Biden says the US should "be planning where to put the temporary hospitals" as it did with a response to H1N1 and Ebola.
The current pandemic is exposing systemic issues in the existing infrastructure, Sanders argues.
"Clearly, we are not prepared," Sanders says.
This debate so far— no audience, a lot of room to get as close to nuance on a singular issue of healthcare — is the best opportunity yet for Sanders to make his care for Medicare for All.
Biden is forced to defend the current system.
"This is like a war", Biden says. One in which people wouldn't be billed for their care in the middle of a crisis, unrelated to the greater healthcare system and specific to the national emergency.
Sanders, asked to respond: "We have to act in an unprecedented way. ... It also means we tell the pharmaceutical companies and big money interests that this is not a time for profiteering."
Sanders says the wealthy are likely to weather the crisis but the majority of Americans will be hardest hit. It's "unjust how so few have so much and so many have so little."
Biden is trying to reel the focus to the current crisis, taking a "first things first" approach. Sanders is making the case that the crisis is part of a larger systemic one.
These are fundamentally different ways of looking at the response and it's difficult for them to navigate past.
Sanders, though he loves rallies, is continuing his streaming remarks including a fireside chat and "using a lot of soap."
Biden is avoiding crowds and handshakes.
It's an understatement that their campaigns are dramatically changed in a crucial time due to the public health threat.
Biden also denied having supported cuts to Social Security. Sanders is trying to give him an out: "You've been on the floor of the Senate time and time again" for cuts to social security and says he may have "changed your mind" on "but it doesn't change reality."
He went from denying it to explaining why he did.
On the Defense of Marriage Act, Hyde, Brady bill and the Iraq War.
