Democratic presidential candidates to debate tonight

Gov. Bill Richardson and other Democratic presidential candidates will gather in Las Vegas, Nev. tonight for the next official candidate debate.

The event begins at 6 p.m. Mountain Standard Time and will be televised live on CNN.

It will be the first debate among the candidates since Hillary Clinton was hammered on Oct. 30 by most of her rivals and stumbled on a question about whether undocumented immigrants should be allowed to obtain state driver’s licenses. She has experienced a drop in the polls since then.

Richardson, at that debate, stood out for defending Clinton while the others attacked.

In the newest poll of Nevada Democrats, conducted for CNN, Clinton has a huge lead. She’s at 51 percent, while Barack Obama is at 23 percent, John Edwards is at 11 percent and Richardson is at 5 percent.

But what really matters right now is Iowa, where there are two new polls. One, conducted by Strategic Vision, has Clinton at 29 percent, Obama at 27 percent, Edwards at 20 percent, Richardson at 7 percent and Joe Biden at 5 percent. The other, conducted for CBS News and the New York Times, has Clinton at 25 percent, Edwards at 23 percent, Obama at 22 percent, Richardson at 12 percent and Biden at 4 percent.

Tonight’s debate could give a boost to Richardson’s campaign, but, for that to happen, he’ll have to stand out for something other than defending Clinton.