TONIGHT

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will duel for Super Tuesday votes Thursday night as the Democratic presidential hopefuls face off for the first time together minus former Sen. John Edwards.
art.debate.cnn.jpg

Thursday's debate is taking place at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California.


The debate -- sponsored by CNN, the Los Angeles Times and Politico -- starts at 8 p.m. ET Thursday on CNN and CNN.com. CNN's Wolf Blitzer is the moderator.

The event is the first Democratic debate since Obama's convincing victory Saturday in South Carolina. On Tuesday, Clinton won the Florida primary, a contest her campaign said helped the senator regain momentum even though it awarded no delegates.

The forum at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood comes hours after the Obama campaign revealed it had raised $32 million in January from roughly 170,000 new donors. That amount will allow Obama to expand his television ad buys greatly in the 20-plus states holding primaries or caucuses Tuesday.




The Clinton campaign would not indicate how much money it had raised in the same time period.

Mike Gravel, the other Democratic presidential candidate still in the race, was not invited to participate in the debate because he did not meet certain criteria, including support in national polls. In a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll conducted January 14-17, Gravel received less than 1 percent.

Edwards suspended his presidential run Wednesday in New Orleans, Louisiana, but he didn't endorse any candidate despite what aides described as furious lobbying campaigns by Obama and Clinton.

Thursday's debate may be slightly more restrained than last week's brutal showdown. Following her South Carolina loss, Clinton has largely steered clear of opportunities to take aim at Obama.

Former President Bill Clinton also has avoided criticizing his wife's rival after dominating headlines with his attacks in the days before the South Carolina vote.

The economy is likely to dominate Thursday's debate, as both candidates look to appeal to supporters of Edwards and his brand of economic populism.

Clinton and Obama have split victories in their parties' early-voting states: Obama has won in Iowa and South Carolina, and Clinton has won in New Hampshire, Nevada, Michigan and Florida. But the Michigan and Florida contests awarded no delegates, and all major Democratic presidential candidates pledged to avoid campaigning in those states following national party penalties against them for moving up their contests so early.

Clinton was the only major candidate to appear on the Michigan ballot.

Obama is leading Clinton in the number of pledged delegates -- those awarded based on primary or caucus votes. Clinton has the edge when superdelegates are factored in. (Superdelegates are party leaders and elected officials who are not obligated to support a particular candidate. They can change their decisions at any time leading up to the Democratic National Convention in August.)
advertisement

To date, Obama has won an estimated 63 national convention delegates as a result of primary or caucus votes, while Clinton has earned an estimated 48 delegates. Clinton, however, has the overall lead in delegates -- 232 to 158 -- when superdelegates are included.

With solid fundraising numbers and a nod from Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts this week, Obama will be making the claim he holds the front-runner title. But Clinton -- who has led in national surveys for much of the race -- will be making her case as well.