Six of the 12 Democratic presidential candidates will take the stage Tuesday night in the final debate before the Iowa caucuses, which is three weeks away.
CNN, in partnership with The Des Moines Register, will air the debate live on Tuesday at 8 p.m. from the campus of Drake University.
The most recent Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom poll shows Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the lead at 20 percent. Three other candidates: former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden follow Sanders, separated by just one percentage point each.
With the impeachment trial looming over the U.S. Senate, this could be the last time the senators in the race get face-to-face time with voters before the Iowa caucuses. Topics will likely relate to rural America, which every candidate has released an economic plan for, and foreign policy.
“I think the biggest issue will probably be Iran and foreign policy, given what's been going on recently and received a lot of attention the news, deservedly so,” Greg Wolf, an assistant political science professor at Drake University told WHO-TV 13.
“Biden is definitely going to highlight his experience both in the Senate and dealing with foreign affairs as vice president. Whereas Pete Buttigieg will make the point that he has military service,” Wolf says.
Wolf also told WHO-TV 13 Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar could find herself playing catch up and possibly fighting off Warren.
“Warren is trying to be moderate a bit to peel people off from those more moderate candidates. And again, this could be really important in the second round of voting at the Caucus, where she may try to get Klobuchar voters."