Article snippet: The most consequential event of the 2020 presidential race so far is set to take place Thursday evening, when the second of two Democratic debates in Miami will feature most of the primary’s front-runners. Nearly seven months into the contest, five candidates have begun to pull away from the rest of the 25-person field, at least in polls and fund-raising. Four of those five will stand next to each other at center stage Thursday night: former Vice President Joe Biden; South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg; Senator Kamala Harris of California; and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. (Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts was the only top-tier candidate at Wednesday night’s debate.) That said, there’s a lot of fluidity at this stage in the primary race. Biden has been the front-runner since he entered the contest, but surveys show his lead is shrinking. Polls have also shown that Sanders is slipping — sometimes conceding second place to Warren. In the last week, Buttigieg has faced a political crisis back home in Indiana, where a white police officer in his city fatally shot a black man who raised a knife as the officer came upon his car. As for Harris, she is expected to post a significant fund-raising number next month but has yet to show she can expand her support outside of elite audiences. This debate could give these candidates — as well as the other six on stage — an opportunity to change the contours of the race. With all of that in mind, here are four ... Link to the full article to read more