Nevada Democratic Presidential Primary Debate Tonight

CNN and the Nevada Democratic Party will be hosting this Debate held at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. This two hour debate will start at 8 pm EST and televised by CNN. Wolf Blitzer will moderate the debate and the panel members who will be asking questions will be Campbell Brown, Suzanne Malveaux, and John Robert.

This is the fifth of six Democratic Presidential primary debates sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee. With such a front loaded Democratic primary schedule, the performance of the candidates in these debates and a victory or top three showing in Iowa is very important.

The latest CNN poll had Senator Hillary Clinton (NY), Senator Barack Obama (Illinois), and former Senator John Edwards (NC) in a statistical dead heat in Iowa at 25%, 23% and 22%.

Will the panel members and Wolf Blitzer continue to focus questions on recent miscues by front runner Senator Hillary Clinton (NY)? She has certainly given the questioners more subject matter after her campaign admitted to the "planting of questions" at events in Iowa and then adding insult to injury, failing to leave a tip after a meal at an Iowa Diner.

Also look for a question concerning her waffling on a question asked by Tim Russert at the end of the last debate on whether she supported the Governor of New York's proposal to issue Driver Licenses to illegal immigrants. It is now being reported that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer (D) may drop this proposal. She will also be asked about making policy decisions based on poll results.

She has the most to lose in this debate - if the above issues stick to her and if she does not rebound in a strong manner from her performance in the last debate, look for her to begin to slide in the Polls.

Senator Barack Obama, after a tremendous speech at the Iowa J/J Dinner has energized his supporters so look to see him receive more pointed questions pertaining to his experience to be President. It will also be interesting to see how forceful he contrasts his positions on the issues with Sen. Clinton.

If he follows up on his recent electrifying speech with a solid performance look for him to gain in the Polls and more importantly, gain in the hearts of Iowa voters.

Former Senator John Edwards also has a lot to lose. He was leading in Iowa and seems to be struggling to get attention, yet his message of "those who have and those who don't" is very true today. Battling for the less fortunate and expressing concern with the corporate lobbyists in Washington is appealing and the right thing to do - pay attention to his answers and see how he continues to draw distinctions between himself and Clinton - if it is an attack style, it could work against him.

Governor Bill Richardson (NM) has been unable to break out of the single digits in the national polls and his defense of Clinton during the last debate has many political pundits believing he is now running for Vice-President. With his international relations experience and being the only Governor as a candidate for President, he may be the most qualified candidate in the race. But for him to stay in the race after Iowa, he needs two things to happen - finish third or above in Iowa and start raising serious money.

Senators Joe Biden (Del.), and Chris Dodd (Conn), along with Congressman Dennis Kucinich(Ohio) understand the political process in Washington very well and have served with distinction but none is currently registering with the voters in the national polls. Although Congressman Kucinich did win the recent online Democracy for America poll with 33% of the 150,000 votes cast. They will need to have outstanding performances. Also look to see if they take shots at any of the front runners and if so - will the shots be directed at a particular candidate.

Tune in, watch and remember that in spite of poll results, the numbers that count are when the people vote and the votes are counted. So until then, every Democratic Presidential candidate has a chance to be the nominee of the Party and become the next President of the United States.