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WASHINGTON (AP) —
Hillary Rodham Clinton says she always expected tough competition in the Democratic presidential primary. It's likely she didn't expect it would come from Bernie Sanders, the rumpled independent senator from Vermont and a self-described democratic socialist calling for "political revolution."
The surprise rivalry between Clinton and Sanders will be at the forefront as Democrats take the stage Tuesday in Las Vegas for the party's first debate of the 2016 campaign. The senator and the former secretary of state will be joined by a trio of candidates who occupy the basement of early polls, each looking to change their fortunes with a breakout moment in prime time.
For months, Clinton and Sanders have circled each other cautiously and avoided personal attacks. But in recent days, both have shown that their preference to focus on policy doesn't mean they won't find ways to jab at each other.
Sanders, who has filled arenas with crowds in the thousands and matched Clinton's fundraising take in the past three months, has cast the former secretary of state as a late-comer to the liberal positions he's held for decades on education, the environment and the economy.
After Clinton announced her opposition to a sweeping Pacific Rim trade deal, a pact she had previously called the "gold standard," Sanders said he was glad she'd come to that conclusion. Then he added: "This is a conclusion I reached on day one."
Indeed, Clinton has increasingly moved to the left on domestic policy since announcing her campaign this spring, including voicing opposition to the Keystone XL oil pipeline and support for expansive gun control legislation. While she rarely mentions Sanders by name, she's suggested her proposals are more realistic and well-formed than those espoused by the Vermont senator.
In an interview with NBC's "Today Show" last week, Clinton took aim at Sanders call for free college tuition, a popular initiative among progressives.
"I'm a little different from those who say 'free college for everybody,'" Clinton said. "I am not in favor of making college free for Donald Trump's kids."
For Clinton, a policy-heavy debate would be a welcome reprieve from the months of focus on her use of personal email and a private server during her four years as secretary of state. The controversy has overshadowed virtually every other aspect of her campaign and contributed to a decline in her standing with voters.
Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist who worked for Clinton's failed 2008 White House campaign, said that as long as the email issue doesn't dominate the debate, "this will be a win for her no matter how you look at it."
Hanging over Tuesday's contest will be the shadow of Vice President Joe Biden, who is flirting with a late entry into the Democratic field and is expected to announce his decision within days.
While Biden's political advisers have been talking to potential staff and donors, he is not expected to upend the debate by revealing his political plans in the hours before the candidates take the stage.
Despite the Biden speculation, the Democratic primary has lacked the drama of the Republican contest and the unexpected rise of Donald Trump. Debate host CNN has already said it expects significantly lower ratings for Tuesday's debate than the Republican contest the cable channel hosted in late September, which drew an audience of 23 million.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he expected President Barack Obama to watch at least some of his party's debate.
"I don't think that he will watch it wire to wire — there is some pretty good playoff baseball on tonight," said Earnest, referring to the Major League Baseball playoffs.
Even with smaller viewership than the GOP debates, Tuesday's event will be the largest audience for Democratic candidates since the primary race began. It's one of six debates the Democratic National Committee has sanctioned, a point of contention among some candidates seeking more nationally televised events to generate much needed attention.
Leading the push for more debates is Martin O'Malley, the former Maryland governor who sought to be Clinton's chief rival. O'Malley has been sharply critical of what he sees as Clinton's flip-flopping on policy and has also said questions about her email use are legitimate.
Democratic strategist Jim Manley said he expected O'Malley to be aggressive in going after Clinton in the debate, mostly because it's his only chance to draw attention to his own campaign.
"This is a chance for him to establish a rationale for his candidacy, which so far has been missing," Manley said.
Also on stage will be former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, a decorated Vietnam veteran who criticized Clinton for her early support of the Iraq war and could push her on her hawkish foreign policy positions Tuesday. Rounding out the five-person field is Lincoln Chafee, the Republican-turned independent-turned Democrat from Rhode Island whose most notable campaign moment thus far was his call for the U.S. to adopt the metric system.
WASHINGTON (AP) —
The Republican presidential contest has been aflutter for months, but now it's time for the Democrats to spread their wings before a big national audience.
Their first debate is Tuesday night on CNN. Grab your binoculars and bring along this field guide to the candidates.
___
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
Key features: Nearly everybody recognizes her. She's the only candidate who's lived in the White House already, as first lady.
A quick sketch:
— Daughter of a fabric store owner and a homemaker living in the Chicago suburbs
— Met her future husband and future president, Bill Clinton, at Yale Law School
— After serving as first lady, elected to U.S. Senate from New York
— Early Democratic front-runner in '08, she lost presidential nomination to Barack Obama
— Won both praise and criticism as Obama's first secretary of state
Also of note:
A steady drip is wearing on Clinton's air of invincibility as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination. The troubles include Clinton using a personal email account and server while at the State Department; the fatal attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, on her watch; and big donations from foreigners and political supporters to the Clinton family's charitable foundation.
Might Clinton be for you?
Perhaps yes, if you prefer a Democrat but with a more aggressive foreign policy than Obama.
Perhaps no, if you want a candidate who isn't already mired in investigations (Benghazi, and therefore emails).
Some other distinguishing issues:
— Wants to make public universities affordable and community colleges tuition-free
— Wants to build on Obama's health care law and lower the costs of prescription drugs and insurance deductibles
— Opposes an Obama initiative that she once supported: the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal
In a nutshell:
Establishment. Early favorite. Second-timer.
___
BERNIE SANDERS
Key features: He's an independent senator from Vermont who calls himself a Scandinavian-style democratic socialist.
A quick sketch:
— Son of a Polish immigrant father; raised in Brooklyn with the accent to prove it
— A student civil rights activist at the University of Chicago in the '60s
— Unseated the Democratic mayor of Burlington, Vermont, by 10 votes in 1981
— Elected to U.S. House in 1990, he's Congress' longest-serving independent
— An early and vocal opponent of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003
Also of note:
Sanders is running for the Democratic nomination, but he's never been a Democrat. He represented an anti-war third party in four unsuccessful races for office in Vermont in the 1970s. He was elected Burlington mayor as an independent. He caucuses with Democrats in the Senate, but he's called both the Democratic and Republican parties tools of the wealthy.
Might Sanders be for you?
Perhaps yes, if you want a president to tackle income inequality as "the great moral issue of our time" and think democratic socialism is cool.
Perhaps no, if you want government to get smaller, not bigger.
Some other distinguishing issues:
— Create a "Medicare for All" single-payer universal health care program
— Raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour
— Make tuition free at public colleges and universities
In a nutshell:
Liberal. Populist. Politically independent.
___
MARTIN O'MALLEY
Key features: He's a former Maryland governor who champions data-driven leadership and sings, too.
A quick sketch:
— Father was a suburban D.C. lawyer, mother's been a congressional staffer for nearly three decades
— Met his wife while they were University of Maryland law students
— Elected Baltimore mayor at age 36, he took a statistics-heavy approach to reducing crime
— During two terms as governor that ended in January, he signed bills legalizing gay marriage, repealing the death penalty
— The longtime front-man of a Celtic rock band, he sometimes sings and plays guitar at campaign events
Also of note:
One of the achievements O'Malley boasts about — dramatically reducing Baltimore's high crime rate as mayor — is getting new scrutiny in a time of national "Black Lives Matter" protests. Critics contend that O'Malley's zero-tolerance crime policies fostered a culture of harassment and abuse of black citizens that they blame for the death of Freddie Gray while in Baltimore police custody in April.
Might O'Malley be for you?
Perhaps yes, if you want to shield people in the country illegally from deportation until immigration law is overhauled.
Perhaps no, if you dislike his history of raising taxes.
Some other distinguishing issues:
— Increase Social Security benefits for seniors by raising payroll taxes on high earners
— Toughen gun laws, including requiring a background check with fingerprints for every gun sale
— Tighten banking rules and break up big banks to end potential for bailouts
In a nutshell:
Policy wonk. Liberal. An alternative to Clinton.
___
JIM WEBB
Key features: A highly decorated Vietnam veteran, he's followed his own path as a lawyer, novelist, journalist, Navy secretary and one-term U.S. senator.
A quick sketch:
— Grew up on the move as Air Force officer's son; graduated U.S. Naval Academy in 1968
— Awarded numerous medals, including Navy Cross for heroism as a platoon commander in Vietnam
— Battle injuries forced him out of the Marines; wrote first of his military novels, "Fields of Fire," in 1978
— Named President Ronald Reagan's Navy secretary; resigned to protest spending cuts
— Won 2006 Senate race in Virginia, running as a Democrat who had opposed invading Iraq
Also of note:
Some of Webb's writings could haunt his campaign, especially among women and minority voters. He's expressed regret for a blunt 1975 magazine piece against admitting women to the Naval Academy. He opined that affirmative action should be only for black Americans, not other minorities. Amid recent debate over removing Confederate flags and monuments, he urged people to remember "that honorable Americans fought on both sides." He's also written some racy prose as a novelist.
Might Webb be for you?
Perhaps yes, if you want a champion for the troops who's cautious about military ventures.
Perhaps no, if you want a candidate who backs President Barack Obama's nuclear agreement with Iran.
Some other distinguishing issues:
— Impose a doctrine limiting the circumstances under which the U.S. would use military force
— Stop incarcerating people for nonviolent drug crimes
— Overhaul the tax code to benefit workers, while also reducing the corporate tax rate
In a nutshell:
Former Republican. Combat veteran. Outsider appeal.
___
LINCOLN CHAFEE
Key features: A former Republican senator, he switched to the Democrats while serving as Rhode Island governor.
A quick sketch:
— Son of John Chafee, who was a Rhode Island governor and senator with a long political lineage
— Earned classics degree from Brown University, then spent seven years shoeing racehorses
— Elected mayor of Warwick in 1992; appointed U.S. senator when his father died in office
— Elected to his Senate seat in 2000 but lost re-election bid six years later
— Quit Republican Party, ran for governor as an independent, became a Democrat in office
Also of note:
Chafee long stood out as a liberal Republican in an increasingly conservative party. In 2002, he was the only Republican senator to vote against going to war in Iraq, and he's making that a cornerstone of his campaign. As an independent governor, he backed Barack Obama for president twice. He joined the Democrats in 2013.
Might Chafee be for you?
Perhaps yes, if you want to reinvigorate the United Nations and "find a way to wage peace."
Perhaps no, if you don't want the U.S. to seek alliances with Russia or Iran or consider talking with Islamic State militants.
Some other distinguishing issues:
— Ban the death penalty
— Drop all charges against fugitive National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden
— Switch the U.S. to the metric system
In a nutshell:
Political pedigree. Party switcher. Unconventional.
NEW YORK (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has agreed to host "Saturday Night Live" next month. NBC said its former "Celebrity Apprentice" host will be the headliner of the Nov. 7 show. It's the second time he has hosted the venerable comedy institution; he was on the show in April 2004. Trump has been ratings gold for nearly every television outlet he's touched since his candidacy took off this summer, the main reason behind record viewership for the two GOP candidates' debates in August and September. Sia will be the "Saturday Night Live" musical guest on the night that Trump hosts.