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The VICE Guide to the 2016 Election

A Guide to the Hillary-Bernie Showdown at Tonight's Democratic Debate

Everything you need to know before the two main competitors—and three other dudes—square off in Las Vegas tonight.

Illustration by Sam Taylor

If the Republican debates have taught us anything, it's that a presidential primary doesn't really start until the candidates have a chance to talk over each other for a few hours and be generally humiliated by bright-eyed cable news anchors on national television. Republicans have already done this twice, in what amounted to episodes one and two of the White House season of Celebrity Apprentice; on Tuesday night Democrats will get their chance at the party's first primary debate, hosted by CNN.

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While it certainly won't be the goat rodeo we've come to expect from their red-state counterparts, it will be one of the few times that America will get to meet the men challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 2016.

Because it's been a long time since we saw a presidential debate without a reality star at the center of the proceedings, we've put together a user's manual to guide you through what to expect when Clinton and her crew get on stage tonight.

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When and where is the debate?
In what feels like an attempt to make up for the absence of Donald Trump, CNN is hosting Tuesday's debate at a Las Vegas casino, namely the Wynn Las Vegas Resort. As many have pointed out, this is a bit of an odd choice given that the hotel's owner, Steve Wynn, though nominally a Democrat, has given millions to Karl Rove's Super PAC.

The debate will last from 8:30 to 11 PM EST—a normal amount of time for these things that now seems merciful after the hellish ordeal CNN put us through with last month's Republican debate, which lasted approximately ten years. Moderator Anderson Cooper will be in charge of asking serious question about things like income inequality, guns, and where exactly government officials should be keeping their emails. Cooper has said he won't force the candidates to attack each other because he's "uncomfortable with that notion of setting people up in order to kind of promote some sort of a face-off"—another change from the last GOP debate, where candidates were goaded into saying nasty things about each other like contestants on a reality show.

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Who's debating?
Obviously the main attraction Tuesday is Hillary Clinton. The Democratic frontrunner has had a rough couple of weeks, plagued by sinking poll numbers and a weekly news trickle about that homebrew email server.

A CBS News poll released on Sunday found that while Clinton maintains a sizable lead over her Democratic rivals, her advantage has narrowed since this summer. The more significant number, though, is Clinton's favorability rating, which has sunk to 33 percent, down from 41 percent in August. Even worse, 61 percent of voters think Clinton isn't honest, putting her on par with Donald Trump when it comes to her perceived trustworthiness.

Tuesday is Clinton's chance to change that. Her campaign has so far been tight-lipped about what their candidate has been doing to prepare for Tuesday's debate. But if the past is any indication, it's safe to assume her staff has spent the last few weeks trying to make Clinton seem "real" and "relatable" to the average American—a ridiculous effort that usually results in Clinton doing something weird, like driving around the country in a van named after a cartoon dog.

All of which is to say, the debate is Bernie Sanders's to lose. The Vermont Senator has been gaining on Clinton in important early voting states like New Hampshire and Vermont, and his campaign announced this weekend that it raised more than $25 million between July and September, bringing his total remarkably close to that of the Clinton campaign. He'll have the chance to introduce himself to a national audience on Tuesday, and convince Americans that a curmudgeonly Democratic socialist who loves Sweden and talks exactly like Larry David is exactly the guy they want as leader of the free world.

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But there will be three other candidates on stage, most notably Martin O'Malley, the former governor of Maryland who has been desperately trying to get people to pay attention to his campaign for months. So far, nothing has worked: despite hitting all the Democratic high notes on issues like climate change, income inequality, and gun control—and being the only candidate to hit Clinton while he does it—O'Malley is still polling in the single digits. Tuesday night is his chance to change that—and clearly O'Malley knows it, although how he's gone about taking that chance might give you an idea of why no one likes him in the first place.

Yes that's — Peter Hamby (@PeterHamby)October 6, 2015

The two guys other guys on stage will be former Virginia Senator Jim Webb and former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee.

Wait, who?
Good question. Both Webb and Chafee announced their candidacies this past spring, but since then, no one has heard much from either about why or how he is running for president.

As we pointed out back when he announced his campaign, Webb is theoretically an interesting—and perhaps even viable—challenger to Clinton. A purple-state Democrat, he was calling for criminal justice reform at least a decade ago, when most of the other 2016 candidates were still deep into their Tough on Crime phases. Webb also has a nuanced view on foreign policy and veterans' affairs, informed by a long career in the military, and an illustrious run as a writer of sexy war novels.

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Webb's stated reason for getting in the 2016 race was to challenge Clinton on her foreign policy record as President Obama's Secretary of State. The problem is that since then, Webb hasn't said anything, at least not in any public forum. A recent Mother Jones investigation into whether or not he is actually running was inconclusive, and although an advisor named Dave "Mudcat" Saunders has been telling reporters that Webb will be at the debate Tuesday, we probably won't know for sure until the lights actually go on at the Wynn.

Chafee is perhaps an even bigger mystery, although a less interesting one. A former Republican who's now running in the Democratic primary, Chafee says he wants to challenge Clinton on her vote in favor of the Iraq War—which, like Chafee, is old news.

What about Joe Biden?
He won't be there. Despite CNN's best efforts to get Uncle Joe in on the action, the Vice President is still biding his time, delaying a decision on whether to make another presidential run until after his party's first Democratic debate. This makes sense, given that Biden has a habit of saying things he shouldn't—so the more debates he misses, the fewer opportunities he has to fake an Indian accent on national television.

CNN has not given up hope though. The network changed its rules to allow anyone polling over 1 percent to participate in the debate, provided they declare their candidacy by October 14—the day after the debate. That means Biden could still make a game-time decision—and CNN is ready if he does.

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Who else won't be there?
Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig. A crusader for campaign finance reform, Lessig announced he is running only recently, and is polling below the 1 percent threshold required to get into the debate. (It's worth noting that Chafee has been right around—and occasionally below—that mark in the polls, a point that Lessig himself has made.)

On the spectator side of things, Bill Clinton has said he won't attend the debate—but will be in Las Vegas on Tuesday anyway.

Will there be any drama at all?
Probably not. Both Clinton and Sanders have indicated that they don't plan on making personal attacks, but will instead focus entirely on policy. And Cooper seems unwilling to try to inject drama into the proceedings. That leaves O'Malley as the only instigator on stage, but given his inability to instigate anything this election cycle, I don't think we should be holding our breath.

In fact, the biggest controversy going into tonight's debate hasn't been about the candidates or their respective campaigns, but about the debates themselves—specifically how many of them are scheduled for this election cycle. The Democratic National Committee announced this summer that the party would only host six officially sanctioned debates—considerably fewer than the number scheduled by the Republican Party.

Technically, it's the same number of debates that the Democrats put on in 2004 and 2008, but in the latter year, candidates ended up meeting at least 26 times at other unofficial forums and events. This year, however, the DNC has shown a surprisingly draconian streak, and required the candidates to sign what amounts to a non-compete agreement that bars them from participating in any rogue debates.

The party swears it ran this past all of the campaigns, which is strange because most of the candidates—that is, the ones not named Clinton—would like more debates, and have criticized the DNC for rigging the process in favor of their chosen candidate. Over the weekend, a vice chair of the committee said the DNC had asked her not to attend the Las Vegas event because she had voiced support for more debates. All of which is a particularly bad look for the party and its national chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, going into their big night.

On the plus side, Donald Trump will be livetweeting the debate, in case you miss him.

Follow VICE Politics on Twitter, and check out VICE.com later tonight for live coverage of the debate.

Illustrator Sam Taylor is also on Twitter, so follow him too.