CLOSING STATEMENT #DemDebate Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley, LIVE from Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. 2016 Presidential Debate: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley return to a familiar weekend forum, this time hosted hosted by ABC News. Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders set to square off in 3rd Democratic debate. Database hack by Vermont senator's team expected to fuel lively exchange The location is a staple of American politics: The school’s Institute of Politics regularly hosts presidential candidates, and it plans to host a Republican debate in February. David Muir and Martha Raddatz of ABC News will moderate. What’s Hillary Clinton’s challenge in this debate? Clinton is more vulnerable to forces outside her own party than those inside right now. At a town hall meeting in New Hampshire this week, she lashed out at what she sees as Donald Trump’s vandalism of conservative and American politics. That doesn’t mean Sanders and O’Malley haven’t been criticizing what they see as Clinton’s policy weaknesses. O’Malley recently called Clinton’s immigration politics “worn out,” and Sanders had to retract negative ads from his campaign website that portrayed Clinton as a Wall Street shill. Can Bernie Sanders make a dent in Clinton’s massive lead? Recent polling suggests that Sanders’ candidacy should still be taken seriously; In a December Des Moines Register poll, Clinton is only 9 points ahead of him, and the strong New Hampshire polling puts him in a nice position with the audience on Saturday. National polling still spells doom for the Vermont senator, alas: only a few December polls have Sanders within even 20 points of Clinton. What about Martin O’Malley? While trying to distinguish himself recently as the candidate most supportive of refugees and dismissive of his rivals, O’Malley is barely registering in the polling. Only 7 percent of Maryland Democrats—O’Malley’s home state and the one he served as governor—are supporting his bid for president. His uphill climb is steep. After months of relative civility, the Democratic presidential candidates take the debate stage on Saturday night amid an outburst of hostilities surrounding accusations that Bernie Sanders's campaign stole valuable voter information from front-runner Hillary Clinton. The rancor that burst into the open on Friday marked a sharp shift in a Democratic primary that has been devoid of drama, particularly compared to the unpredictable Republican contest. The controversy appeared likely to overshadow any policy discussions in Saturday's prime-time debate in New Hampshire, the party's third and final contest of the year. Data hack exposes fault line in Democratic presidential race Republicans take to Twitter to roast Democratic Party debate Clinton and Sanders will be joined on stage by Martin O'Malley, the former Maryland governor who has struggled to become a factor in the race. The debate is expected to draw low viewership, given that it's scheduled on the last weekend before Christmas, when most Americans have turned their attention to the holiday season. For Clinton, the question was how forcefully to confront Sanders about the data breach, and whether to defend the reaction of the Democratic National Committee, which temporarily cut off the Vermont senator's access to the party's voter database. Sanders's campaign said its access was restored early Saturday morning.

• published: 20 Dec 2015
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