LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Democratic Party organizations and campaigns will conduct viewing parties at five sites in Los Angeles County for today's first debate of the 2020 presidential campaign.
The watch parties will be held at:
-- 6th and La Brea, 600 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles;
-- The Abbey, 692 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood;
-- The Gaslite, 2030 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica;
-- The Gramercy, 2460 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica; and
-- 9401 Oakmore Road, Beverlywood.
The 10-candidate debate sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee will begin at 6 p.m. and be televised by NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo. It will be streamed by NBCNews.com, MSNBC.com, NBC News NOW, NoticiasTelemundo.com, and on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Under rules set by the DNC, candidates needed to either register 1% support in three qualified polls or have 65,000 unique donors to their campaign, with a minimum of 200 donors in at least 20 states, to qualify for the debate.
The 20 candidates who qualified were divided into two groups of 10 in a drawing Friday.
In an effort to avoid grouping lesser-known candidates together on one night and high-profile candidates on the other, candidates were divided into two groups -- those who polled on average at or above 2% through June 12 and those who polled on average below 2% through midnight on Wednesday. A random draw then took place, to create two groupings of 10.
“The purpose of that is to be consistent with our principle of trying to be fair to everybody but also, it gets to the point of your question, so that we have maximum eyeballs both nights,” DNC chairman Tom Perez told MSNBC's Hallie Jackson before the draw.
The candidates position on the stage at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami was determined by their standings in qualifying public polling through June 12.
Top polling candidates were placed at the center positions, with lower polling contenders being placed closer to the edges of the stage. Candidates who were tied in the polls were ranked based on the overall number of qualifying polls.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke will be in the middle Wednesday.
Standing from left to right will be New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio; Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan; former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro; New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker; Warren; O'Rourke; Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar; Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard; Washington Gov. Jay Inslee; and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney.
This will be the first time more than one woman has been on stage for a presidential primary debate.
Here's a Primer On The Democrats Who Will Be Debating on Wednesday
By R.J. Johnson - @rickerthewriter
“NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt, “Today” anchor Savannah Guthrie and “Noticias Telemundo” anchor Jose Diaz-Balart will moderate the first hour. Holt will also appear in the second hour, which “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow will moderate.
Candidates will have 60 seconds to answer questions and 30 seconds to respond to follow-ups.
A second 10-candidate debate will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, with watch parties set for the following locations:
-- The Abbey, 692 N Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood;
-- Dave & Buster's, The Promenade at Howard Hughes Center, 6081 Center Drive, Westchester;
-- Del Monte Speakeasy, 52 Windward Ave., Venice;
-- Earth, Wind, and Flour, 2222 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, and
-- The Game Sports Bar, 5630 W. Manchester Ave., Westchester.
Photo: Getty Images