US DEMOCRATIC DEBATE: FOCUS ON BIDEN, IMPEACHMENT

WESTERVILLE, US: Twelve Democrats square off on Tuesday for a historically crowded presidential debate overshadowed by an impeachment inquiry into US President Donald Trump, who has dragged chief rival Joe Biden into the Ukraine crisis.

It is an extraordinary moment. Washington’s impeachment brawl has dominated US politics for weeks and denied Democratic candidates the attention they crave ahead of what could be a pivotal showdown in the race to see who will face Trump in 2020.

Trump’s July 25 phone call to his Ukrainian counterpart seeking help in investigating the Bidens, and the discredited charge by Trump that the former US vice president intervened in Ukraine to protect his son Hunter, has roiled the race and put Biden in the spotlight.

The debate at Ohio’s Otterbein University features Biden, who is struggling to maintain front-runner status, rising-star progressive senator Elizabeth Warren nipping at his heels and liberal senator Bernie Sanders, eager to move on from a recent mild heart attack that raised questions about his fortitude.

Also on stage are South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg; senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar; ex-congressman Beto O’Rourke; entrepreneur Andrew Yang and Obama-era cabinet member Julian Castro.

While debates are expected to help winnow the field ahead of the first votes in the nomination process, the Democrats have actually expanded from the 10 candidates in September’s event to 12 Tuesday, the largest debate in modern US political history.

Two others who qualified are congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and billionaire activist Tom Steyer, who for two years has been seeking Trump’s impeachment.