COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — The Democratic presidential candidates are all back to take the main stage tonight and tomorrow to debate in Detroit, Michigan.
"It's really exciting to see how they interact with each other and how they try to promote themselves on the big stage," Chair of the Pattawattamie County Democrats, Scott Punteney said.
The last round of debates were more of an introduction to the candidates, this time around the local community is more familiar and interested.
Just in the past couple weeks most of the candidates have prioritized Iowa, making numerous campaign stops.
"People are excited, we've seen a lot of these candidates through Council Bluffs in the last three, four, five, six months. We have more coming next week so it seems like we always have an influx of these candidates coming."
But the interest doesn't stop in Iowa.
"We've had presidential candidates coming to Omaha. Nebraska is not an early primary or caucus state. It just goes to show how excited people are all over the place," the Executive Director of the Douglas County Democratic Party, Scott Packer, said.
These candidates know the importance of standing out in the Midwest, Iowa specifically.
"We're the first in the nation and it's something we voters and myself take very seriously. It's exciting. We're spoiled here in Iowa for sure we get to see all of these candidates up front," Punteney said.
"So people in Iowa take their responsibility very seriously as the first in the nation caucus," Packer said.
This debate will be telling as to who moves forward in the candidacies.
"It;s going to be much more difficult to qualify for the next round of debates," Packer said.
However, people are excited. For the last round of debates, the Buck Snort restaurant in Council Bluffs even hosted a watch party.
"They clapped a lot, they hooped and hollered," owner of the Buck Snort Restaurant, Dwayne Pleas, said.
The watch party was quite the hit.
"It was a good showing here for us of course we stayed open late," Pleas added.
The watch parties are continuing this week.
"So we have a watch party tonight that's going to be at Full Fledged Brewery here in Council Bluffs. It's a new venue. It's the first time we've ever, ever had one of our events there, so it should be exciting and tomorrow night we're going to have our event at Buck Snort," Punteney said.
