UW-Madison experts to live tweet debate

Democratic presidential candidates will take the stage Thursday for the third round of debates, and UW–Madison experts will provide commentary through a live tweet event at the Memorial Union.

But this time, the field is down to 10 who qualified by meeting the stricter requirements set by the Democratic National Committee. A record 20 participated in the previous debate.

“With September’s stricter debate rules, we’ll see for the top tier candidates sharing the debate stage — including Warren and Biden together for the first time,” says Eleonor Powell, an expert on political parties.

Experts from UW–Madison’s Elections Research Center will live tweet the debate at 7 p.m. Thursday from the Rathskeller at Memorial Union using the hashtag #UW2020debate. The experts are Eleanor Powell (@EllieNeffPowell), \ David Canon(@DavidTCanon), Kathy Cramer(@KathyJCramer), Ken Mayer (@uwkenmayer) and Michael Wagner (@prowag).

Some thoughts as we head into the debate:

“The third Democratic presidential debate will feature all of the leading candidates on the same stage for the first time,” Canon says. “Also, the top ten Democratic candidates will have a little more time for their answers and rebuttals than the first two debates.”

“This time around, I’ll expect the candidates will focus on distinguishing themselves from Biden and making claims that they are the best suited to compete against Trump,” Cramer says. “I’ll be listening for whether and how any of the candidates try to convince the general public that they might be a uniter in these divisive times.”

“Hopefully the debate gives viewers an opportunity to distinguish platitudes from plans, and provides an opportunity for people to get some insight into how the candidates would make important decisions as president,” Wagner says.