JUDY WOODRUFF: Six
Democrats vying for their
party's presidential
nomination are set to

face off tonight in Las Vegas.

Former New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg will
make his debate stage
debut after qualifying

as a result of the latest "PBS
NewsHour"/NPR/Marist poll.

With just three days to go
before the Nevada caucuses,
Amna Nawaz joins me now from Las

Vegas for a preview.

Hello to you, Amna.

So this is the third contest
in the season. This is the most
diverse group of voters yet

to be weighing in. What are
they saying on the ground there?

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, Judy, you
know, the candidates so far have
been disproportionally focused

on Iowa and New Hampshire, which
are two small, white states.

For the first time, they have
to address a state and voters
in a state that looks more

like the rest of America and
what America is becoming. When
you look at the Democratic

Caucus electorate from 2016,
it was 19 percent Latino, 13
percent black, 4 percent Asian.

Non-whites made up 41
percent of that electorate.

So, you're hearing from the
candidates that they have to
tailor their message a little

bit more and to broaden the
message at the same time. Gone
are the days of the retail

handshake, room-by-room
politicking. They
have to deliver a much
bigger message now

specific to some of
these communities.

And what we saw -- my colleagues
Kate Grumke and Saher Khan
have been following some of

the candidates on the ground.
And they're having voter events
that target some of these

communities. For example, Mayor
Buttigieg spoke specifically
to a black student group

yesterday. Former Vice President
Biden spoke to an Asian-American
Pacific Islander group

as well.

And there's early voting
going on in these communities
too. So you see some of these

events set up next to
often these early voting
locations, trying to get
some of those diverse

voters out early.

But, right now, Judy,
what you're hearing from
these candidates is a
much bigger message,

because they know, to show and
to prove that they can compete
in other places in America,

they have to show that they
can do it here in Nevada first.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, about the
caucuses this weekend, in that
national poll that we mentioned

earlier, the
"NewsHour"/NPR/Marist,
we see 72 percent of the
people who responded say

they think the caucus process
is going to be a fair one,
it's going to be accurate.

But there were the problems
with the Iowa caucuses just
days ago. What are Democrats

in Nevada saying is their level
of confidence about what's
going to happen this Saturday?

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, they say
that confidence is high, Judy.

But, again, the proof is going
to be in the actual caucus
tally results. Look, there are

a lot of firsts that
are unfolding in this
caucus process. It's
the first time they're

trying to incorporate early
voting into the process. That
early voting wrapped yesterday.

It's also the first time that
they're using this one specific
tool, which is a pre-loaded

secure form on iPads that's
handed out to all the precinct
chairs. They developed that,

we should say, in response to
what happened in Iowa, because
they were supposed to use

the exact same app that
the Iowa caucuses used.

Obviously, they scrapped that
plan after they saw what chaos
unfolded there. But they have

high confidence, they
say, that they're running
enough trainings, that
there are more trainings

available for people who feel
they're not comfortable with
that tool that they're using

right now.

And I actually had a chance to
speak earlier with DNC chair
Tom Perez. I asked him about

his message to voters who might
feel uneasy about the process.
And he said, look, we took

lessons learned from Iowa. We
applied them here. We have every
confidence that the process

is going to go smoothly.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, finally,
Amna, tonight's debate, it's the
ninth Democratic presidential

debate. You got six candidates
on the stage, including, as
we mentioned, for the first

time former New York City
Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

What is his team saying is their
expectation tonight? And what
do we think the other candidates

may do because he's there?

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, we know that
an official from the Bloomberg
camp has basically said

they're preparing him to
connect more with the audience.
It's something he hasn't had

to do before. Right now, he's
sort of messaging through his
ad buys and surrogates across

the country.

But I think he should also
be prepared for a number of
attacks. The presence of former

Mayor Bloomberg on that stage
means that he's an easy foil
for Senator Sanders, who has

long railed against the power,
the disproportionate power that
billionaires in America have.

But he could also take
some fire from moderates,
people like Biden and
Buttigieg and Klobuchar,

because he's basically
fighting for supremacy in
that same moderate lane
that they all currently

occupy.

So, a lot to watch for on
the debate stage tonight.

JUDY WOODRUFF: A lot to watch
for. And, Amna, you and the
team are going to be there. We

will be talking to
you later in the week.

Thank you, Amna Nawaz.

AMNA NAWAZ: Thanks, Judy.