Twelve candidates take the stage for October's Democratic primary debate, which begins at 8 p.m. ET. NPR reporters are posting context and analysis in real time. Loading...

Despite coronavirus-related shutdowns across Illinois, primary campaigns remain in full swing. The Illinois Primary election takes place Tuesday. Campaigners for democratic presidential frontrunners Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders say they’re still optimistic about turnout. Retired Senator John Kerry is a Biden campaign surrogate and praised Sunday night’s debate performance. “Joe really came out sounding like a president -- sounding like a guy who really had a plan for coronavirus as well as for other things. I think the key is just to stay steady and keep going straight ahead and not take anything for granted,” Kerry said. Ari Rabin-Havt is Deputy Campaign Manager for Bernie Sanders. He emphasized the importance of science and expertise, both in Sanders’ platform and on public health. “People and government officials should talk to public health experts in their state, speak to the CDC, and issue the guidance necessary for people to vote and not get sick," he said. Tulsi Gabbard will

Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders have the stage to themselves for Sunday night's Democratic primary debate. The debate, hosted by CNN and Univision in Washington, D.C., will not have a live audience amid coronavirus concerns. Follow NPR's live coverage of the debate. Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit Loading...

The New Yorker’s Eric Lach is in Iowa for the month leading up to the Democratic caucuses. Next week’s debate, in Des Moines, was likely going to focus on health care and other domestic issues core to the Democratic platform, but the agenda may instead be dominated by a discussion of the Trump Administration’s killing of the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani and the United States’ fraught history of war in the Middle East. Polls show that Joe Biden is trusted on foreign-policy issues, but Lach suggests that Bernie Sanders’s history of opposing wars—and his quick and confident articulation of his position on Iran—may sway voters seeking a clear message. Nearly a year into the campaign, votes will finally be cast, and in Iowa the deciding factor may involve personal contact more than ideological positions. Iowa voters tend to say, “ ‘I’ve shaken this person’s hand, and I’ve shaken this person’s hand, and I’m going to make my decision after I’ve shaken this other person’s hand.’ That counts for a lot, I think,” Lach says.

This week, Democratic Presidential candidates met for their final debate before the Iowa caucuses, a few weeks after Trump ordered the targeted killing of the Iranian military commander Qassam Suleimani. They talked about how America’s role in the world is threatened by the President’s erratic—and, in the case of Ukraine, likely criminal—approach to foreign policy. But many voters remain skeptical that Trump can be beaten. Susan B. Glasser joins Dorothy Wickenden to discuss the radical uncertainties of the 2020 race.

On Tuesday, voters in New Hampshire cast their ballots in the Democratic Presidential primary. Following the debacle surrounding the Iowa caucuses, many Democrats hoped that the results from New Hampshire would bring clarity to the race. Bernie Sanders won, arguably making him the front-runner. But close behind him was Pete Buttigieg, who also narrowly won the Iowa caucuses, and Amy Klobuchar, whose third-place finish gave her campaign renewed energy. Benjamin Wallace-Wells joins Eric Lach to discuss the New Hampshire primaries and how a clear picture of the future of the Democratic contest remains elusive.

Rachel Bitecofer, a political scientist at the Niskanen Center, in Washington, D.C., thinks that most pollsters and forecasters rely on outdated ideas about how candidates succeed. She argues that the outcome has far less to do with the candidates’ ideology than we think it does. Her perspective has been controversial, but in July, 2018, months before the midterm elections, her model predicted the Democratic victory in the House with an accuracy unmatched by conventional forecasters. And it suggests that Democrats should stop worrying about losing, and focus on firing up their voters.

Joe Biden’s pitch to voters has been remarkably consistent: he says he can unite older voters, people of color, and moderates into a coalition that can defeat Donald Trump. A series of gaffes, concerns about his voting record, and disappointing results in the early primaries seemed to doom Biden’s candidacy. But big victories in South Carolina and on Super Tuesday have given new credence to his claim that he’s the best person to take on Trump in November. Evan Osnos joins Dorothy Wickenden to discuss how Biden became the Democratic front-runner and how he’ll go about winning over skeptical young, progressive voters.

The candidates put their own spin on the Iowa uncertainty -- and quickly moved on to the next battleground.

Technology is driving immense social and economic change and it's time for governments to step up and actively shape the future. If we simply leave it to the market we risk social dislocation and economic disruption. Former US Ambassador to Australia Jeff Bleich says the five trends demanding urgent attention from governments are automation, education, climate change, cyber security and self-governance. And Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz on the price of inequality

More than two decades since Philip Nitschke set fire to the "disgusting, pathetic" bill overturning voluntary euthanasia in the Northern Territory, the region remains in a stranglehold, banned from even debating the issue.

Voting rights based on owning property were last seen in many democracies in the late 19th century, but they live on in most Australian local government elections.

Members of California’s Congressional delegation are center stage at the House Intelligence Committee impeachment inquiry hearings on Capitol Hill. The chair of the committee is LA area Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff. The ranking Republican member of the same committee is Fresno Rep. Devin Nunes. Other Californians are Democrats: Bay Area Rep. Jackie Speier and East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell. McClatchy DC reporter Kate Irby joins Insight. She follows the California Congressional delegation. 

California’s State Endorsement Convention is this weekend in Long Beach. One of the surprises is that candidates Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Former Vice President Joe Biden will not attend. What does this mean? 

On Saturday, Nov. 16, the California Democratic Party in conjunction with Univision will host a televised 2019 Presidential Forum from 4 to 6 pm PST. Confirmed candidates are New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, South Bend Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Former Health and Human Services Secretary Julián Castro, California Sen. Kamala Harris, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, investor Tom Steyer, and entrepreneur Andrew Yang. CapRadio’s Capitol Bureau Chief Ben Adler provides a preview to this weekend’s convention.

U.S. Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff secured a dominant victory Saturday at a Democratic Party assembly, earning him a slot in the June 30 primary and setting the stage for a likely one-on-one contest between him and John Hickenlooper.

The Colorado Supreme Court has all but cemented a two-way Democratic primary for Colorado’s U.S. Senate seat in June between John Hickenlooper and Andrew Romanoff after reversing another Denver District Court decision. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled that Democratic candidate Lorena Garcia shouldn’t be placed on the primary ballot because she didn’t collect enough […]

Democratic state lawmakers say hate and bigotry are on the rise during the COVID-19 pandemic and they’re asking Coloradans to join them in condemning it.

The Town of Berlin Connecticut continues to raise property taxes in the face of a never-ending recession. The Berlin Property Owners Association has been speaking out against these increases in property taxes. Recorded herein are four speeches by residents of the Town of Berlin at the first Town Council meeting subsequent to the Town Council's approval of an increase in property taxes, resulting from giving raises to virtually all town employees, who are already very well compensated. Continue reading →

Even though Corporate America has anointed Hillary Clinton as its next President, Senator Bernie Sanders' populist message is already in a week's time raising individual contributions totaling millions of dollars from hundreds of thousands of people! Continue reading →

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) warns not to underestimate him in the 2016 Democratic race for the White House. Sanders, who is formally launching his campaign Tuesday, said he has a strong message. Continue reading →

“Thank you all very much for being here and for all the support that you have given me over the years: as the mayor of this great city, as Vermont’s only congressman and now as a U.S. senator. Thanks also … Continue reading →

Bernie Sanders would have already won this nominating contest if we had received an accurate accounting of the vote. It is deeply troubling the Senator would be sending out surrogates to talk about his allegiance to the Democratic party and Clinton in general in the face of the Party instituting theft against its own constituents. It is no mystery HOW to win. Count the votes and contest fraud. A tough Sane Progressive call out. Continue reading →

Ralph Nader on Campaign 2016 Ralph Nader talked about his upcoming book, Breaking Through Power: It’s Easier Than We Think, as well as the latest developments in the 2016 presidential election. Continue reading →

Bernie Sanders and Jane Sanders are mere actors serving as pressure valves which release from time to time all excess heat emanating from failed policies, scandals, and the worsening economic conditions, so that a catastrophic systems’ collapse can be prevented. They are sheepdogs for Hillary Clinton, preventing progressives from supporting a third party progressive candidate and to herd them back into the corral of the Democratic Party. Continue reading →

"Well, reducing the election to personalities is kind of infantile at this point. The fact is, we live in a system that Sheldon Wolin calls inverted totalitarianism. It’s a system where corporate power has seized all of the levers of control. There is no way to vote against the interests of Goldman Sachs or ExxonMobil or Raytheon." Continue reading →

The Democratic National Committee is controlled by its big corporate donors. Tom Perez was recruited to defeat progressive Keith Ellison to keep the Democratic Party in the coffers of its corporate donors. Ellison's defeat as head of the DNC was a hit job by the corporate machine within the DNC. Continue reading →

Why do politics always make for the best meme material? We'll just let the politicians speak for themselves. 

In case you missed last night's democratic presidential debate, then we'll give you a little run down: Cory Booker accused Joe Biden of being high, Amy Klobuchar claimed she raised a crap-load of money from her ex-boyfriends, and Biden made an, uh, brain-dead comment about domestic violence. 

Scroll down to watch some of the highlights and view some of the internet's reactions!

Last night's democratic debate in Nevada got pretty damn spicy to say the least. So much so that many are calling it the most entertaining debate of the election cycle so far. Pete spoke Spanish, Warren (and every other candidate, for that matter) came out swinging against Bloomberg, and many, many other things that warranted a monumental cringe fest. 

So please enjoy the following roast-y memes from the night and you can watch a more in-depth recap of it here!

Last night Americans tuned in to watch the audience-free live democratic debate between remaining candidates Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. Topics of discussion included the Green New Deal, Donald Trump, and of course, the COVID-19 pandemic. You can watch the debate here to decide for yourself who won, and click here for more political memes!

Sanders leaves the presidential race with some major accomplishments.

Democrats who expect all voters sick of President Trump to vote for Joe Biden are insulting people who care more about the issues than the party.

Funding for Trump's border wall is met with resistance

Woody Myers, the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor, thinks Gov. Eric Holcomb is making a big mistake in how he's reopening the economy.

Indiana democratic gubernatorial candidate Woody Myers named Linda Lawson as his running mate in an announcement Friday morning.

Indiana democratic gubernatorial candidate Woody Myers named Linda Lawson as his running mate in an announcement Friday morning.

A chronology of key events

Key facts, figures and dates

“People who have the most exaggerated features tend to make the worst caricature subjects, and in that sense, I hate drawing Bernie,” says one.

TidalWave Productions is releasing Buttigieg and Bloomberg comic books to sit alongside its Warren biography.

Pulitzer-winning cartoonist Mike Luckovich had a middle-of-the-night inspiration after Super Tuesday.

“The transition happens so quickly; it’s like you don’t even get to move your furniture out until the new president takes the oath of office,” Obama told Gayle King in an interview at Essence Festival.

Hear about travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as the Amateur Traveler talks to Chris and Sasha Rosencranz about their recent trip to this African country. The DRC is located along the south bank of the Congo River. This large country used to be the Belgian Congo. Chris was previously on the Amateur Traveler talking about the Republic of the Congo as well.

Hear about travel to Virunga National Park as the Amateur Traveler talks to Niall from Ireland about his visit to this stunning national park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.