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.
First-Graders Leap Into Action and Save Their Teacher from Choking in Virginia Classroom
GOP Rep Goes Nuclear After Democrat Cuts Him Off Mid-Sentence: ‘You Were That Rude’
Widespread Obamacare Fraud: Phony SSNs Had a 100% Success Rate for Getting Coverage, Investigation Finds
How Is This Not Racist? Ex-MSNBC Host Trashes Minorities for Working with ICE to Catch Criminals
Florida teens in custody after 14-year-old girl found shot to death, burnt: sheriff
Alaska school district erases Veterans Day from official calendar: ‘Absolutely unacceptable’
Tom Homan Nukes Heckler Who Calls Him Traitor: ‘Grow A Backbone, Put a Kevlar Vest and a Gun on’
Public School Students Allowed to Skip Classes in Chicago if They ‘Fear’ ICE
Congress faces holiday crunch as health care fix collides with shrinking calendar
Republicans divided over whether to salvage Obamacare — or replace it — ahead of subsidy deadline
GOP stands firm in ‘blue slip’ battle with Trump despite prosecutor setbacks
Idaho bar owner faces death threats after viral promo offering free beer for assisting ICE
Judge rules evidence linked to James Comey’s ally is off limits to DOJ
EXCLUSIVE: Trump-led Kennedy Center nearly doubles fundraising from Biden era, smashing record with $23M haul
Hegseth hints at major defense spending hike, reveals new details on Trump’s anti-narco-terrorism operations
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.”
We have two more debates– of course the threshold will go up. 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.
— Xochitl Hinojosa (@XochitlHinojosa) March 4, 2020
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.
First-Graders Leap Into Action and Save Their Teacher from Choking in Virginia Classroom
GOP Rep Goes Nuclear After Democrat Cuts Him Off Mid-Sentence: ‘You Were That Rude’
Widespread Obamacare Fraud: Phony SSNs Had a 100% Success Rate for Getting Coverage, Investigation Finds
How Is This Not Racist? Ex-MSNBC Host Trashes Minorities for Working with ICE to Catch Criminals
Florida teens in custody after 14-year-old girl found shot to death, burnt: sheriff
Alaska school district erases Veterans Day from official calendar: ‘Absolutely unacceptable’
Tom Homan Nukes Heckler Who Calls Him Traitor: ‘Grow A Backbone, Put a Kevlar Vest and a Gun on’
Public School Students Allowed to Skip Classes in Chicago if They ‘Fear’ ICE
Congress faces holiday crunch as health care fix collides with shrinking calendar
Republicans divided over whether to salvage Obamacare — or replace it — ahead of subsidy deadline
GOP stands firm in ‘blue slip’ battle with Trump despite prosecutor setbacks
Idaho bar owner faces death threats after viral promo offering free beer for assisting ICE
Judge rules evidence linked to James Comey’s ally is off limits to DOJ
EXCLUSIVE: Trump-led Kennedy Center nearly doubles fundraising from Biden era, smashing record with $23M haul
Hegseth hints at major defense spending hike, reveals new details on Trump’s anti-narco-terrorism operations
I welcome the opportunity to raise & discuss the foreign policy challenges we face, like the new cold war/nuclear arms race, Turkey's efforts to drag the U.S. into a war with Russia over Syria, the coronavirus, & more. Domestic policy cannot be separated from foreign policy. https://t.co/jgVxSz1huX
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 5, 2020
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.
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.
