CNN to air a live drawing to determine the lineup of the 2nd Democratic debate

In a few weeks, viewers will be invited to watch certain 2020 candidates' hopes of getting a prime spot in the second Democratic debate crumble in real time.

CNN on Monday announced it will air a live drawing on July 18 in the 8 p.m. hour to determine the lineup of the second round of Democratic debates, which will be moderated by Dana Bash, Don Lemon, and Jake Tapper.

As with the first round of debates, this second round will take place over two nights, July 30 and July 31, and it will be randomly decided which of the candidates who qualified will be placed on which night.

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During the first round of debates, Wednesday night's event was widely seen as less important than Thursday's, seeing as frontrunners former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) were both placed on Thursday after a lottery was held. This time, candidates will once again be crossing their fingers to be placed in the same debate as Biden, as well as Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who has gotten a significant bump in the polls after her stand-out performance in the first debate.

The Democratic National Committee's rules state that only 20 candidates can participate in the second round of debates, although certain candidates who made the cut in the first round of debates may be shut out of the next one, including Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), FiveThirtyEight notes.

CNN reports that candidates will be informed on July 17 whether they're being invited to the debate, with the live drawing to decide who will be placed on which night occurring the following evening.

The network's announcement of this live drawing airing in prime time drew some derision on Monday, with Ian Sams, Harris' national press secretary, tweeting out an image from The Hunger Games. Brendan Morrow