The 2016 Democratic debate season continues Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa, with three candidates taking the stage: Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders. It will be the first debate since Vice President Joe Biden declined to enter the race, and since long-shot candidates Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb dropped out. Here are a few graphs to put the Democrats’ 2016 debate schedule in context. (Click here for the full debate schedule).
Number of Debates
Many Democrats are upset with the limited number of debates scheduled for the 2016 primary cycle. Only six debates are scheduled, compared with the 12 scheduled Republican debates. Only four Democratic debates will happen before the first votes are cast in the Iowa Caucuses, while the GOP will host six before then.
Like Republicans, Democrats are cutting down on the number of debates this cycle. From 1984-2008, Democrats averaged 14 debates per cycle.
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The Democrats have not hosted so few debates in a presidential cycle since 1976. That cycle, however, few of the candidates realized the primary contests would be important under a new nomination system, explaining the relatively low number of debates.
This debate’s three candidates marks the fewest number of participants in a second debate since only Al Gore and Bill Bradley contested the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000.
Host States
Saturday will mark the 13th time Iowa has hosted a Democratic primary debate, the second-most of any state. Ten of those debates have been in Des Moines.
Wisconsin will host its first-ever Democratic debate before the nomination is decided. The GOP just held its first-ever debate there on Tuesday.
One major contrast between GOP and Democratic host sites comes in New York and Florida. Democrats have hosted nine debates in New York, while the Republicans have hosted only one there. The GOP has hosted nine debates in Florida, whereas Democrats will have hosted just two by the end of this cycle.
New Hampshire has hosted a Democratic debate in every cycle since the 1984 process. Iowa has hosted the Democrats every year but 1992.
Calendar
Nov. 14 is the latest date for the second Democratic debate of the sseason since the Bradley versus Gore primary of 2000. That cycle had its second debate on Dec. 17, although the third debate came just two days later.
This year’s start reverses a trend of debate seasons starting earlier and earlier. The last three debate seasons have started earlier than the one prior. By this point in the 2008 cycle, there had already been nine debates.
Historically, January of an election year has been the most crowded month for presidential primary debates. The Democrats will have hosted 20 debates in January from 1984-2016, while Republicans will have hosted 22. Democrats have only one debate scheduled for January 2016. Contrast that with January 2008, which had four.
The latest Democratic debate came on June 3, 1984, when Walter Mondale faced off against Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson just 43 days before the Democratic National Convention began.
Airtime
At the first Democratic debate, Clinton spoke for three times longer than Chafee did. Clinton spoke for over 30 minutes in the more than two-hour debate. Chafee spoke the least, getting only nine minutes. The candidates averaged 20 minutes of speaking time.
Clinton and Bernie Sanders spoke for more than their fair share of time, if you believe each candidate should have had equal time. On the other hand, if you think higher-polling candidates should have gotten more speaking time, Clinton didn’t speak enough. Bernie Sanders’ portion of speaking time was in line with his share of support in the polls.
Buzzwords
Bernie Sanders railed against Wall Street more than any other candidate. He brought up Wall Street 11 times, eight more than any other candidate. Sanders also mentioned “free” stuff the most often, using the word “free” five times.
Despite leading the GOP polls at the time, Donald Trump only came up three times, mentioned once each by the moderators, O’Malley and Sanders.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
