Democratic Debate Live Blog: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders And Three Other Guys

The presidential race’s GOP front-runner announced very early this morning, while the rest of us were sleeping, that he had decided to lend a much-needed note of Trumpiness to tonight’s CNN debate we all aren’t waiting breathlessly for – the one featuring the Democratic candidates.

The first Dem debate starts at 8:30 PM ET at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. It features Hillary Clinton, Vermont’s Sen. Bernie Sanders and Those Other Guys – former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee – but, alas, no Joe Biden. (Sorry, CNN.)

Anderson Cooper is chief air traffic controller tonight, joined by CNN’s Dana Bash and CNN en Espanol’s Juan Carlos Lopez. Don Lemon, CNN’s popular on-air loose cannon, also will ask questions, though the network has tried to wrangle him — to whatever degree that’s possible — by assigning him to ask questions he’s selected from pre-screened Facebook and Instagram questions.