we're waiting to hear about things that we have not heard about in prior debates. we'll hear about gun control and wall street reform, john. >> what about the issues that you think they're going to focus on tonight? >> well, i do think that they're going to talk about gun control and minimum wage. i think you're going to hear about social security. it's a issue that moderate republicans have said that we need to cut social security. hillary clinton said no, absolutely not. the democrats will talk about social security. >> hillary clinton is under especially difficult pressure tonight. talk about what she needs to do. >> hillary clinton needs to with stand a little bit of heat on what is qualified as flip flops, changes in her position, changes on the tpp and the keystone pipeline that she has come in line. i think presenting herself as

part of the administration, now her own candidate and free to say some things. they'll try to corner her where she can go up against the obama administration, a place she has not felt very safe, and a place that the democrats don't want to see her go, but she has to go don't many of these candidates agree on the issues? >> don't many of them agree on the issues? >> most of them do, but they don't necessarily agree on how the candidates got to the issues. they don't necessarily agree that hillary clinton got there in a genuine way especially on things like tpp, where she has been a supporter of trade packs. her husband put together nafta when he was president. free trade is a hall macfor the way she has discussed, trade both as a secretary of state and as a senator as well. i think they've seen a

transformation and these candidates will go after her on that. candidates will agree on a lot of things. where you'll see disagreement is gun control. they'll try to paint parent o'malley. i think this will be something to watch when it comes to differentiating themselves from one another. >> now we'll bring on a professor of campaign management at new york unity. we appreciate you being here. let's talk about that. where hillary in particular needs to be at this point, what is the strategy here. is it time to focus on the issues ordeal with these things that are coming along behind you, the possibility that the vice president will step in, and certainly the bernie sanders effect. >> i think what she has to do is all front runners of the debate. no unforced errors. she has got to do that.

she has got to make the american people trust her and let them know that she is a then does, trust worr trustworthy and she can explain the flip flops whether it's the tpp and pipeline. she has to make the case that she's the most electable in the general election. it's find to have a bernie sanders out there. it's fine to have martin o'malley. but when it comes to the end of the line it's hillary clinton who can get elected and beat the lens. >> if hillary clinton and bernie sanders are at the top of the list, what is their most important issue? >> you know, in terms of i think for somebody like a bernie sanders, i think he has really got to show that he's presidential. i think he has got to make the case that he's not this democratic socialist from vermont that only appeal to certain segment of the liberal left wing, he has to be across the board that he is fo for

other issues. he is for free college, and when hillary clinton comes back and asks how are you going to pay for that, i think they'll go after each other in a subdued way. i don't think they'll go after each other like they did on the republican side. >> thank you. >> we'll look at the candidates and their backgrounds and positions. guys, you've got a lot of details. >> let's start with the most famous woman in politics, hillary clinton. by the numbers, hillary clinton is 67 years old. she has been married for 40 years. they have one child and one grandchild. she was first lady for eight years. she won two elections in the

u.s. senate and becoming the only american first lady to hold national office. after losing to barack obama she was nominated and served as secretary of state for four years. her biggest strength is her experience on foreign and domestic policies issues, and we heard from michael shure earlier. she used to support the keystone pipeline and the tpp deal, now she opposes most. and she supports gay marriages from just a few years ago. >> now to the oldest candidate, vermont senator bernie sanders. 74 years old, he's been married twice, he has four children. in the 1960s he joined the civil rights movement and joined the antiwar protest. he moved to vermont in 1981 and

became the first mayor after winning by 12 votes. he served 16 years in the house and is in the midst of his second term in the u.s. senate. his strength is that he has been a consistent and blunt progressive voice on income inequality, universal healthcare, climate change and campaign finance reform. polls lea show him leading the thin new hampshire. >> martin o'malley. he's 52 years old, married, and has four children. and mayor of baltimore o'malley oversaw the greatest crime reduction in any american ski. then he increased minimum wage, passed new gun laws and raised taxes. he's responsible for boosting

maryland's economy. he is a progressive to the left of hillary clinton, and the problem with that is that it's the same political lane as bernie sanders. unlike sanders, o'malley is barely registering in the polls. some believe that he could be the strongest democrat in a general election but by his own admission first owe mai o'malley needs a breakthrough starting with this debate. >> well, jen webb, 69 years old, married three times. six children. he graduated from the naval academy, served in the marines. the only candidate with combat experience. he served as a senate from virginia. he was on the short list for vice president in 2008 but withdrew his name to complete his senate term. webb has worked with republicans. as secretary of the navy in the regularren administration. his strengths has been described as his military background and his independent streak. he opposes the administration's nuclear deal with iran.

he supports the keystone pipeline and advocates gradual immigration reform. his vulnerability his support for his southern roots and insensitivity on some women's issues. >> and a democrat many have not heard of. governor lincoln chafee. he's 62 years, married for 25 years and has three children. chafee is a former mayor of rhode island and appointed republican senator when his father john chafee died. eight years ago after losing a bid for re-election, lincoln chafe, left the g.o.p. he won as independent and thanks in part to encouragement, he

became a democrat. chafee's strengths include his likability and select. one problem is he often comes across as quirkry. he believes that the united states should switch to the metric system. he's considered a weak public speaker and polls place him at the bottom of this democratic field. >> oie and john? >> people will be looking at the five figures on the stage. but two figure who is are not on the stage might have a bigger impact on what people are looking into, the issues that people care about. >> indeed, randall? >> that person we're talking about is the . >> his family moved to delaware where he was elected to the

senate at the age of 29. he became an expert on foreign policy and criminal justice. he made two unsuccessful runs for president before being tapped for the number two job in the obama administration. there he has guided policies in the middle east and led negotiations with congress on tax and spending deals. biden's strength may be his authenticity, which can also be a vulnerability given his penchant for verbal gaffes and everybody is waiting to see if he will or will not get in the race. >> one democrat who is already in who wishes and wanted to be at this debate but was denied is harvard law professor lauren lessig. he's focusing on capping finance reform and election changes. lessig is promoting what is called the citizens a quality act. it would block the amount of money in politics, curb gerrymandering, if he wins he would then pass the election

reforms, resign the presidency and transfer power to his vice president. he's considered politically liberal although he worked for as some of the most influential judges including anton anyone scalia. he has raised more than $3 million for his campaign. but because he's so low in the polls. cnn said he was not qualified for this debate. john? >> david, randall, thank you very much. we'll talk later. more now on vice president biden, who has not decided if he's going to run. >> there is a political action committee. a pack that has raised money, bought and produced commercials trying to create public pressure to urge the vice president to enter the race. in recent cycles this far long

13 months before election day would be considered late to get in. but someone with joe biden's deep roots in the democratic party, his many contacts around the country, he could probably rev up a campaign with more easy than a less well-known person. still he has confirmed that he is not going to be in los angeles. cnn had a lecturn set aside for him. there have been reports that he'll be at home watching the debates on television. >> we had a pretty good idea when all those families, all you americans in trouble were going through. in part because our own families had gone through similar struggles.

when i was a young kid in third grade, i remember my dad coming up to my grand pop's house where we were living say, joey, i'm going to have to leave for a while and go down to delaware with uncle frank. in a little while i'll be able to send for you, mom, and jimmy and val, and everything is going to be fine. >> as was mentioned joe biden has been on the national scene since he was 29 years old. he actually had to wait until his 30th birthday to be sworn in. he was elected at 29. sworn in at 30. his birthday lapsed between election day and the inaugural. on next election day he'll be just days away from his 74th birthday, and that would make him the oldest man ever to run and win the presidency. but the word that is coming out

of people in the know is confusing. they're saying both whisper he's not going to do it. he's not going to do. political scientists, campaign pros saying that he's not going to do it. but then over now an then people close to the vice president, people who have been known to have his ear over time whisper, well, he's still thinking about it. it's unusual this late in the game, as i mentioned, to still be trying to think about it when there is no national apparatus in place. john and joie. >> well, maybe 74 is the new 54, we'll see. >> indeed, john, here on al jazeera america our focus is always on the issues, not just on the horse race. tonight is more about what the candidates claim it is about, truth and holding the contenders accountable when they stray from it. we partnered with the website to sort it all out. david shuster will go through that for us. >> let's go back to the last

republican debate, between donald trump and former florida governor jeb bush. >> excuse me. one second. >> no, the simple fact is, doubled, we have take. >> more energy tonight. i like that. >> jeb bush cared more about the donation donors. bush shot back with this. >> when he asked florida to have casino gambling, we said no. >> wrong. >> we said no. that's the simple fact. >> come on, don't-- >> don't cut me off. >> but jeb bush was not making things up that night. even though trump did host a fundraiser for bush in 1997 and lobbied for a casino, bush rejected the plan. in other words the fact that bush has not been as beholden to donors and donald trump wants

voters to believe. we'll have a full fact check report at 11:00. back to you. >> thank you very much. up next, the voice of the voters, the impact of social media on the presidential debates. right after this.

>> willing inside the wynn hotel where the democratic presidential candidates will participate in their first debate. five lecturns are in place. six were standing by if case vice president joe biden shows up, but that's not likely to happen. biden will watch the debate from home. >> among those who are watching are students. they're gathered in washington, d.c. and they'll have a debate watch party. lisa fletcher is with them right now on the north side of campus. >> hey, i'm at georgetown university. i'm at the event cosponsored by campus democrats. there are easily 300 to 350 students here. this group started two months ago. it is led by the former communication head for the dnc.

he has rallied cite a crowd here tonight. and the students are ready to hear from the candidates. in fact, a little while ago they asked for shouts from the audience for their favorite candidates. bernie sanders by far got the loudest response followedly hillary, and i talked to students before this event started. they said they're open-minded. for the most part they want to hear what everybody has to say. there are issues that are on everybody's minds, topping the list immigration. college tuition reform. criminal justice, tpp and hillary's e-mail. when i asked the kids about biden, they said they would like to see him come in to the race. some are concerned about hillary saying that she has tailored her actions. when you hear about biden,

leadership skills, proven ability. i think as much with this age group as with any other biden is a real factor for hillary clinton if she gets in the race. as you may have guessed the students are very active on social media. many are live, tweeting about the debate tonight. then we'll see if they got their questions answered tonight. >> thank you very much. waj is keeping an eye on the social media. >> i'm all over social media. most of the conversation is centered around the debate, which has been used more than 200,000 times today. now this might be the first time in history presidential candidates are trolling each other on social media before a debate. here is a snarky exchange between donald trump and hillary

clinton that happened just today. donald with this humble tweet that has 4,000 re-tweets. at the request of many, i will be covering democratic debate live on twitter. hillary clinton shout back, glad you're going to be watching. it's going to be huge. she got 4500 retweets. there have been likes, actions and shares since january. the top three issues discussed, religion. number two, gun control. number three, the economy. turning to bernie sanders, he's killing it on social media. on #feel the person has had 3,000 retweets. right now the twitter-verse is making it loud and clear what they want to hear about, wage,

immigration and this could be a huge boost for candidates. last month's g.o.p. debate win percent ben carson and carly fiorina. for chafee, webb and o'malley, this could mean a spike in votes and at the very least, twitter followers. >> let's talk about it, the impact that you heard from waj, as people are talking on twitter and people are reaching out in social media, what would that say about the campaigns? >> is this virtual spin room an is happening as we go forward. we know who is doing well almost i can stan takennously by following twitter. i'm excited i have to follow donald trump. and then the rest of them because you do get a sense of

what people on the ground, students care about. >> you could talk to that as well. when i heardag heard them talking, what do we care about. >> while the economy has improved, most of it has gone to the top 1%. now the candidates are fighting whether it's those on the right or on the left, they're fighting on how can we close the income gap? how can we close the wealth and inequality gap in this country. that's a key question for the field tonight. >> also watching from washington is the vice president, ray. >> you know, joie, the interesting thing about joe bide someone that a lot of the affection for him and the desire for him to get in the race has to do with who he is as a

person. when you look at the issues and where he tracks on the issues, he's not really that different from hillary clinton. they were both aligned with the obama administration, and held in common the policies in large measure. joe biden supports the dream act. he supports raising the minimum wage. he was a prominent cosponsor in the violence against women act, and it's reauthorization. he is a conventionaal liberal democrat. he's really not that different from bernie sanders, not that different from hillary clinton. the fact that people are still yearning for him to get in has more to do with his personal attributes and the reaction people have to his affect rather than the policies he would espouse if that lecturn were to be set up in las vegas tonight. >> ray, we're going to go to

michael shure, who is in las vegas. we saw that tough debates between the republicans. how tough will it get for the democrats? >> i think they'll be tough on hillary clinton's flip floppingish anfloppingflo flop-flopping. and john, i think he's going to talk a little bit about his expertise. playing off what david just said this is an audition for voters and an audition for union support. unions have remained rather neutral in this race, and both hillary clinton and bernie sanders are trying to show off for the unions. there are 50,000 members of the

union here in nevada. they have not given their support to either candidate. look for that when it comes to jobs for the economy, they're going to be looking for that support. >> that is such a great one. when you talk about primaries and caucuses, the fact that someone can win over supporters in nevada is also very important. >> we're all coming back. we'll have a complete wrap up of tonight's debate, the key moments, a fact check and more coming up at 11:00 eastern time. there are many or stories tonight including the result of the downed malaysian jetliner. and antonio mora will have that next. thanks for watching. joie and i will see you back here at 11:00.

you placing blame... >> nobody considered the possibility that civil aircraft at cruising altitude were at risk it was found a russian made missile shot a malaysian jetliner in eastern ukraine - why was it allowed to fly over a war zone at all? day of rage... >> this violence, and any incitement tio