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

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

Bloomberg qualified for the debate just the day before, after an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll became the fourth national survey showing him with 10% or more support in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Herewith, six takeaways from a rollicking night.

The sharp exchanges in the Nevada debate reflected the urgency of the moment as Michael Bloomberg, in his first presidential debate, was repeatedly criticized in personal terms.

The Democratic presidential candidates turned on one another in scorching and personal terms in a debate on Wednesday night, with two of the leading candidates, Senator Bernie Sanders and Michael R. Bloomberg, forced onto the defensive repeatedly throughout the evening.

New York billionaire Mike Bloomberg obliterated Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for owning three homes while declaring himself a socialist democrat during the Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Sanders criticized President Donald Trump and Walmart over what he called "socialism for the rich," when Bloomberg inserted his verbal assault.

"I believe in democratic socialism for the working people, not billionaires!" exclaimed Sanders. "Health care for all, educational opportunities for all!"

The ninth Democratic presidential debate of the 2020 campaign, hosted by NBC, MSNBC and the Nevada Independent, had six candidates, lasted two hours — and did not have many statements that merited fact-checking. Here are seven claims that caught our attention. Our practice is not to award Pinocchios in debate roundups.

On Wednesday, there was a Democratic primary debate in Las Vegas. (Election Central)

The left thinks Warren had a great night and Bloomberg had a disastrous night.

The right sees Bloomberg as the loser of the debate.

In a punchy debate worthy of Las Vegas, billionaire Michael Bloomberg came under attack from all sides.

The field of candidates for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination has been shrinking for months, but on Wednesday night in Nevada, the debate stage had one significant new arrival.

For the first time since he launched his unconventional, money-suffused campaign in November, the former New York mayor directly faced off against his opponents.

The Democratic presidential debate is 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern time. It is being held in Las Vegas and hosted by NBC, MSNBC and The Nevada Independent.

The debate is taking place three days before the Nevada caucuses on Saturday.

This is the first debate to include former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York. He will join five other Democratic candidates: Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont; former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.; Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind.; and Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

Riding a wave of several hundred million dollars worth of advertising – and despite the onslaught of negative information about his opinions on race, stop-and-frisk, and his past support for Republicans – former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has climbed to second place in some recent national polling of Democratic presidential candidates.

As a result, Bloomberg won a place on stage at Wednesday night’s Democratic presidential candidate debate in Las Vegas.

The Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas on Wednesday just got much more interesting.

A poll released Tuesday made former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg eligible to take the stage for the first time since launching his campaign in late November.

His rivals will be out to get him.

The billionaire businessman has been rising sharply in the polls — a fact that virtually everyone, friend or foe, attributes to his colossal spending on TV advertising.

Former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York has qualified for Wednesday’s debate in Las Vegas, the first time the billionaire will appear onstage alongside his Democratic presidential rivals.

A national poll from NPR, PBS NewsHour and Marist released on Tuesday showed Mr. Bloomberg with 19 percent support among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, putting him in second place behind Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who had 31 percent. That was a substantial surge since the group’s poll in December, when Mr. Bloomberg received only 4 percent support.