Democratic candidates to face intense debate before Nevada polling

As the candidates for Democratic race for the White House are narrowing in, the caucuses in Nevada on February 22 will be the third contest in the campaign to find a challenger to Republican US President Donal Trump. The first ones in Iowa and North Hamshire declared two different candidates, Afghanistan veteran, Pete Buttigieg and US senator, Bernie Sanders respectively. All Democratic candidates will face each other on February 18 before the votings begin on Saturday. 

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Meanwhile, businessman Mike Bloomberg has topped the opinion polls has been reportedly spending hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising has now qualified for the debate and will face his Democratic opponents for the first time. Sanders has surged into the polling lead nationally in Nevada after his strong finish in both, Iowa and North Hampshire. He describes himself as the democratic socialist and has tackled the criticism of his views being 'too hard-left' to win the White House. 

Emerging as the other frontrunner for the Democrats to face Trump, Buttigieg reportedly now faces the biggest challenge of the candidacy as he will try to expand his appeal to African-American and Hispanic voters. This challenge will begin for the 40-year-old in Nevada where about one-third of the 2016 electorate was black or Latino. He was criticised in the last debate for his lack of political experience, especially from his rival Amy Klobuchar. 

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Warren, Biden stay behind

After at least five years being away from the limelight, the senator of Minnesota Amy Klobuchar had led a strong debate which secured her place only to the third place in North Hamshire primary. Meanwhile, the liberal senator from Massachusetts has faced a setback and is now behind her ally, Sanders. The former US vice president Joe Biden is battling for survival in Nevada after a bruising fifth-place finish in New Hamshire. Even though he was a front-runner at a time, Biden was the target for other candidates in the past debate. 

Mike Bloomberg qualified for the debate only the first time, and his campaign said that it was witnessing a “groundswell of support across the country” and qualifying for the debate on Wednesday “is the latest sign that Mike's plan and ability to defeat Donald Trump is resonating with more Americans”. 

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(With agency inputs)