Domenico Montanaro

Asked during this week's debate in Charleston, South Carolina if he would drop out if he doesn't win the primary there, former Vice President Joe Biden was blunt.

"I will win South Carolina," Biden said.

Asked again after the debate if he could carry on if he doesn't win South Carolina, Biden was equally declarative.

The Democrats debated for the 10th time Tuesday night and it was a bit of a mess. There was shouting. There was overtalk. There were lots of attacks.

So what to make of that muddle? Here are four takeaways that emerged as the dust settled.

1. Joe Biden was focused on the win in South Carolina

South Carolina is a must-win for the former vice president after disappointing finishes in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. He came into the debate with a game plan and executed it the best he could.

Days before the South Carolina primary, seven Democratic candidates will face off in a debate in Charleston, S.C.

The debate comes after Sen. Bernie Sanders handily won the Nevada caucuses, won in New Hampshire and tied in Iowa.

Here's what you need to know:

When is the South Carolina Democratic debate? Tuesday, from 8 to 10 p.m. ET.

Where is the debate being held? Charleston.

What channel is the debate on? CBS and streaming online on CBSN.

The 2020 Democratic nomination is now Sen. Bernie Sanders' to lose.

The independent from Vermont ⁠— who is running as a Democrat and often speaks about the ills not just of Republicans, but also of Democrats ⁠— handily won the Nevada Democratic caucuses.

It's caucus day in Nevada!

Today's election will feature the most diverse electorate yet in this Democratic presidential nominating contest.

And it presents a challenge for each of the candidates on the ballot. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who finished second in Nevada in 2016, is the favorite in yet another race, as the more moderate candidates continue to duke it out.

Here are six things to watch:

In Las Vegas — a city known for prize fights — the Democrats were gloves off.

And a new entrant in the ring took a lot of incoming: former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has spent more than $300 million of his own money on ads to raise his profile.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is rising in the polls among Democrats, but questions about his electability against President Trump persist because he self-identifies as a democratic socialist.

A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll backs up the idea that the label could hurt him.

The Democratic presidential nominating contest now heads into a critical phase.

The candidates have so far stood for elections in two of the whitest states in the country, Iowa and New Hampshire. But Nevada and South Carolina — the next two states to vote — will provide far more diverse electorates.

Updated at 7:08 a.m. ET

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has opened up a double-digit lead in the Democratic nominating contest, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.

Sanders has 31% support nationally, up 9 points since December, the last time the poll asked about Democratic voters' preferences.

Updated at 10:20 a.m. ET

The finish at the top in New Hampshire looked a lot like the finish last week in Iowa, this time with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders leading the way and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg finishing a close second.

But from the No. 3 spot on down there were some pretty big surprises, including the rise of Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and disappointing finishes for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Here are six takeaways from what happened last night:

Updated at 12:49 p.m. ET

Democrats are going to try again.

After the Iowa results meltdown, New Hampshire takes center stage Tuesday night. This election is run by the secretary of state's office and not the state party. It's also a more-straightforward primary (with a couple kinks we explain below) rather than a complicated, math-heavy caucus.

The Democratic candidates for president debated once again Friday night, just days after the Iowa caucuses and days before the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.

The stakes were high for each of the seven candidates who debated. Here are five takeaways from the debate:

1. Urgency is setting in for the candidates

At this point, it's pretty much time to move on.

The New Hampshire primary is days away, and the results out of the Iowa Democratic caucuses are still in question.

The Associated Press, which NPR and lots of other news organizations rely on to call winners and losers, said it will not be calling the race at this point, despite all votes being in, because of irregularities in the vote count.

Updated at 6:20 p.m. ET

Yes, it really happened. After millions of dollars spent by the candidates, Iowa's caucuses were a bust. A delay in results has stalled the Democratic presidential race.

Now, the country is (so far) left with no winner from the contest that was supposed to kick off the Democratic presidential contest and help determine which candidate will take on President Trump this fall.

Voting in the Democratic presidential nominating contest is about to kick off Monday with the Iowa caucuses.

The stakes are high in Iowa — the last four Democratic nominees have all won the Hawkeye State. But after about a year of campaigning and $50 million spent here by the candidates, the outcome is unclear.

The pressure is on Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who led in the polls coming in, has drawn the biggest crowds on the ground, and does incredibly well with younger voters.

Iowa Democrats gather Monday to kick off the nominating contests that will pick the party's presidential nominee — the person who will take on President Trump in November.

But how they do it is complicated.

The Iowa caucuses are kind of like neighborhood meetings where people get together and — out in the open, with no secret ballot — try to win over their friends, family and neighbors to support their preferred candidate.

More Americans disapprove than approve of President Trump's handling of the situation with Iran, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll. But they are split along party lines, and the results largely reflect the president's approval rating.

By a 49%-42% margin, Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of Iran. Usual splits emerge, with roughly 9 in 10 Republicans approving, more than 8 in 10 Democrats disapproving and about half of independents disapproving.

There are now no more official debates before Democrats begin voting.

Tuesday night's debate was the last before the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3, and it featured six of the 12 remaining candidates — the top four of whom polls show to be neck and neck.

Democratic primary voters got a substantive debate in which the candidates clashed over what it means to be commander in chief, gender politics and, of course, health care.

Here are four takeaways from Tuesday night's debate:

Democrats all want one thing: to beat Donald Trump.

The problem is, they can't agree on who's best to do that. With a month to go until the Iowa caucuses, there's a clear top tier of four candidates: former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Ind.

Whether you think the new decade starts at midnight Tuesday or a year from then, the eve of 2020 seems like a good time to look back on the top political stories of the 2010s.

An overarching and important theme of 2019 was the shifting power dynamic in Washington. The 2018 midterm elections put Democrats in control of the House of Representatives after eight years of Republican control — and made Nancy Pelosi House speaker for the second time in her career.

That had consequences, including the use of the ultimate check on presidential authority, impeachment.

Listen to The NPR Politics Podcast here.

The impeachment of President Trump has dominated the news this week. But the political focus shifted to the Democratic presidential candidates Thursday night for their sixth debate, this one in Los Angeles and hosted by the PBS NewsHour and Politico.