John Hickenlooper needs Americans to pick him out of a lineup. Elizabeth Warren needs to sustain her momentum until the end. Beto O’Rourke just needs a better night.
Ten candidates meet Tuesday for their second presidential debate of the summer, and they’ve all got different to-do lists for the nationally televised event.
Here’s what the candidates need to accomplish in Detroit:
Needs to finish strong
The most successful debaters are usually the ones who talk the most. That wasn’t the case last month in Miami for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Warren had a strong opening, during which she rattled off ways she’d bring large, structural change. But she went dark in the second half, speaking for just over nine minutes total, less than either Cory Booker or Beto O'Rourke. She had a weaker group alongside her in Miami, but she’ll still be sharing a stage on Tuesday with fellow progressive Bernie Sanders, so it wouldn’t hurt to make a bold closing argument.
Needs America to Google him
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock wasn’t among the 20(!) candidates in the first debate, which has made it hard for him to make his case to Americans.
But as a two-term governor in a state President Donald Trump won in 2016, he’s offering something different from anyone else on stage.
Bullock will likely get only a few minutes to speak Tuesday, so if he wants to make up for lost time, he needs to make a splash and persuade voters to dig into his criticism of dark money in politics, his record expanding Medicaid and more.
Needs voters to tell them apart
Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t recognize John Hickenlooper— last month, a security guard stopped the former Colorado governor to ask if he was picking up press credentials to cover the first debate in Miami.
Hickenlooper, former Maryland Rep. John Delaney and Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio have been trying to distinguish themselves from the other moderate white men in the race. Hickenlooper will have a chance to reprise his assault on socialism when he shares the stage with Sanders and Warren, whose ideas he says are too expensive, on Tuesday.
Ditto for Delaney, who also has taken out his frustrations on his most progressive rivals.
Ryan is making a play for working-class voters in the heart of the Rust Belt. He had a moment at the first Democratic debates—if not for the reason he wanted.
Needs Iowa voters to tune in
No two candidates arguably need more love from Iowans than South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
Klobuchar likes to remind audiences across the state’s 99 counties that she’s the “Senator Next Door,” a theme she borrowed from the title of her autobiography. She hasn’t broken out in national polling, so she needs a strong showing in Iowa to prove she’s viable.
Buttigieg, whose Iowa crowds have been far larger—and who is leading Klobuchar by several points in the state—was the only one of the 10 candidates to get a standing ovation at a recent candidate cattle call there. He says he can win in Trump states, and he’ll have to prove it in Iowa.
Needs to speak up
Spiritual guru Marianne Williamson spoke for just 5 minutes in her first debate. Her few comments were plenty memorable, but she says she wants to come across more seriously this time. She needs to pipe up more during the policy discussions to do that.
Needs to get his mojo back
Let’s face it, Beto O'Rourke bombed in Miami.
But if anyone knows what it’s like to be on a magic-carpet-ride upward trajectory, it’s O’Rourke. Debate stages have never been his strongest setting, but he needs to remind Americans who were fans during his 2018 Senate bid in Texas what they saw in the former congressman.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has been playing his hits from 2016, which is why the 11 minutes he spoke in the last debate may not have felt so fresh. He’s also been mired in a labor dispute with his campaign staff, and he could use the positive press from a breakout night.
The debates will air at 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday on CNN.