constraining who gets into the debates. aggressive winnowing that's happening right now between the first and second debates and these next debates that are coming up, this is also -- it's obviously really shaking the democrats who aren't going to make that next stage. it inevitably has the knock-on affect of shining a brighter spotlight and directing more scrutiny to the smaller number of candidates that is making it through that funnel, that's going to be in contention on that soon to be much smaller stage. so tonight, i wanted to take a look at the strength of that field. part of my thinking about this tonight is that things are crazy right now in the news. everybody is able to follow the headlines over the course of the day. there's a lot that i feel like we can offer on the daily news of everyday and every bit of craziness that emerges from this administration. but when it comes to the