News Opinons Politics

DNC Changes Debate Qualifications, Excluding Tulsi Gabbard

The qualifying criteria for the next Democratic debate are out, and they manage to exclude the only veteran and only woman of color left in the race: Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D–Hawaii).

This afternoon, Politico reported that the candidates still in the running for the Democratic presidential nomination will need to have earned at least 20 percent of the delegates awarded thus far in order to participate in the March 15 debate hosted by CNN and Univision in Phoenix, Arizona.

That means that only former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.), who respectively have 48 percent and 41 percent of the delegates so far, will be on next Sunday’s stage.


Despite her strong showing in the American Samoa caucuses where she won two delegates, Gabbard still falls short of that very high threshold.

Had the Democratic National Committee stuck with its criteria for the last debate it held on February 25—which only required each candidate to have won a single delegate—Gabbard would have qualified.


Macron vows nuclear arsenal boost as Europe turns to nukes amid rising global threats
‘Under siege’: Inside the growing radical Islam threat critics say is hiding in plain sight in deep red Texas
Walz-Ellison administration ‘enabled’ Minnesota’s fraud scandal: Guy Benson
NYC Dept of Education employee arrested, charged with murder of Bronx father
Savannah Guthrie returns to ‘Today’ show studio for first time since mother went missing
Iran widens regional war with first strike into Azerbaijan
5 House Oversight Committee Republicans Join with Democrats to Subpoena Pam Bondi in Epstein Probe
As Jasmine Crockett Concedes Texas Senate Primary, Attention Focuses on Radical Dem Who Beat Her
Tom Emmer calls for Tim Walz, Keith Ellison to ‘serve jail time’ if fraud coverup allegations are true
Republican Rep Burgess Owens to retire from Congress when term ends
VIDEO: College Basketball Ref Knocked Out Cold When Players Turn Violent on Court
DOJ Ends Investigation Into Autopen Scandal With Zero Charges, Grand Juries, or Indictments
The ‘woo-woo’ philosophy of Trump’s surgeon general pick 
Illegal’s dragging of ICE agent shows the exact danger the officer who shot Renee Good feared, expert says
The Iran Strikes Have Flooded X with So Much AI Disinformation That I Went Crawling Back to Cable News

See also  UN nuclear watchdog says Iran nuclear site damaged in strikes

DNC Communications Director Xochitl Hinojosa foreshadowed this decision on Super Tuesday, saying on Twitter that “by the time we have the March debate, almost 2,000 delegates will be allocated. The threshold will reflect where we are in the race, as it always has.”

In response to the expected rule change, Gabbard tweeted Thursday about her campaign’s foreign policy focus, and how that can’t be separated from the domestic issues that have gotten the most attention in past debates.


Macron vows nuclear arsenal boost as Europe turns to nukes amid rising global threats
‘Under siege’: Inside the growing radical Islam threat critics say is hiding in plain sight in deep red Texas
Walz-Ellison administration ‘enabled’ Minnesota’s fraud scandal: Guy Benson
NYC Dept of Education employee arrested, charged with murder of Bronx father
Savannah Guthrie returns to ‘Today’ show studio for first time since mother went missing
Iran widens regional war with first strike into Azerbaijan
5 House Oversight Committee Republicans Join with Democrats to Subpoena Pam Bondi in Epstein Probe
As Jasmine Crockett Concedes Texas Senate Primary, Attention Focuses on Radical Dem Who Beat Her
Tom Emmer calls for Tim Walz, Keith Ellison to ‘serve jail time’ if fraud coverup allegations are true
Republican Rep Burgess Owens to retire from Congress when term ends
VIDEO: College Basketball Ref Knocked Out Cold When Players Turn Violent on Court
DOJ Ends Investigation Into Autopen Scandal With Zero Charges, Grand Juries, or Indictments
The ‘woo-woo’ philosophy of Trump’s surgeon general pick 
Illegal’s dragging of ICE agent shows the exact danger the officer who shot Renee Good feared, expert says
The Iran Strikes Have Flooded X with So Much AI Disinformation That I Went Crawling Back to Cable News

Biden and Sanders have sparred in the past over the former’s initial support for the Iraq War, so there is some chance that the two candidates’ contrasting foreign policy visions will be on display come the next debate.

See also  The US and Israel attacked Iran: What we know

Still, it might have been interesting to have Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran, up on stage to offer her own unique perspective on foreign policy. She’s repeatedly argued that rising tensions between the U.S., Russia, and China is putting the country on the road to nuclear war.

A Bernie-Biden smackdown will likely feature less talk of a nuclear apocalypse and a lot more bickering about health care. That’s enough to get anyone running for their fall out shelter.

Story cited here.

Share this article:
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter