Update: After holding a 'super secret' drawing that was closed to the press (even its own reporters weren't allowed in the room, or so they say), NBC News has released the lineups for its first round of primary debates, set for later this month.

The draw to determine who will debate whom on what night at the June 26/27 NBC debate will take place at NBC's office today in New York at 12 p.m. The makeup on each night will be randomly divided between two groups -- candidates polling below and above 2%. — Ruby Cramer (@rubycramer) June 14, 2019

The drawing is closed press. Only campaign reps will attend. Not even NBC reporters seem to be allowed in. "This is a sort of strange question because I work here," NBC's @chrislhayes told Tom Perez in an interview last night, "and I have no idea how this process is being run." — Ruby Cramer (@rubycramer) June 14, 2019

And though the debate was supposed to be equal and the DNC didn't want to create the appearance of a 'tiered' debate, one slate has considerably more star power than the other. The purple group, which will debate on Night 2, includes Biden and Bernie, and a smattering of other front others (Harris, Buttigieg).

NBC has the two groups, Purple and Orange.



PURPLE:

Harris

Biden

Bernie

Pete

Gillibrand

Bennet

Williamson

Swalwell

Yang

Hickenlooper



ORANGE:

Booker

Warren

Beto

Klobuchar

Delaney

Tulsi

Castro

Ryan

de Blasio

Inslee



NBC now huddling to see which group goes first..? — Ruby Cramer (@rubycramer) June 14, 2019

Poor Elizabeth Warren, she won't even be able to engage Bernie and Biden head on.

* * *

It sounds like the setup for a terrible gag: How many Democrats can you squeeze on to a debate stage?

Well, the DNC is about to find out.

According to Bloomberg, the DNC has unveiled the list of candidates who will take part in the first presidential primary debates of the 2020 election.

The group of 20 'finalist' candidates will be split into two groups of ten, and each will perform in one of the two 'first round' debates to be held in Miami on June 26 and June 27. Each group will be selected 'at random', with a proper mix of high- and low-polling candidates.

To qualify for the debate, the DNC required candidates to show a threshold of at least 1% support in major polls, or 65,000 individual donations from at least 20 states. If more than 20 candidates qualified, the DNC would decide who to cut (which would have given them a great excuse to get rid of Bernie before things start getting out of hand like they did during the last go-round).

Here's the final list of contenders:

Joe Biden, former vice president

Elizabeth Warren, U.S. senator from Massachusetts

Bernie Sanders, U.S. senator from Vermont

Pete Buttigieg, South Bend, Indiana, mayor

Kamala Harris, U.S. senator from California

Beto O’Rourke, former U.S. congressman from Texas

Cory Booker, U.S. senator from New Jersey

Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. senator from New York

Michael Bennet, U.S. senator from Colorado

Amy Klobuchar, U.S. senator from Minnesota

Tim Ryan, U.S. congressman from Ohio

Eric Swalwell, U.S. congressman from California

Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. congresswoman from Hawaii

Jay Inslee, Washington governor

John Hickenlooper, former Colorado governor

Julian Castro, former secretary of Housing and Urban Development

Bill de Blasio, New York City mayor

John Delaney, former U.S. congressman from Maryland

Andrew Yang, entrepreneur

Marianne Williamson, spiritual healer

The unfortunate few who did not qualify for the debate are: Montana Governor Steve Bullock; Miramar, Fla. Mayor Wayne Messam and Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts.

Clearly overcompensating because it's still rattled by how it shot itself in the foot by favoring Hillary Clinton over Sanders during the last go-round, the DNC insisted that its methodology for choosing the debate participants was transparent, and as inclusive as possible.

"Each candidate was invited based on the qualification criteria agreed to by the DNC and NBC News, announced publicly in February," the committee said in a statement.

Of course, by allotting so many candidates to participate, it virtually guarantees that the party's 'frontrunners' - Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden - likely won't get as much air time and attention as they should, given their hopes for taking on President Trump, who has the media's full attention (as well as its scrutiny).