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.
EXCLUSIVE: Trump rejects shielding Biden records from Senate probes in executive privilege showdown
DHS hammers Dems over airport security lines amid funding lapse
The Most Dishonest Headline We’ve Ever Seen: The NYT’s Headline on the Islamist IED Attack at Mamdani’s Mansion Will Blow Your Mind
Iranian Women’s Soccer Team Appears to Cry for Help with Subtle Hand Gesture
Tankers to resume normal movement in Middle East in ‘a few weeks’ at worst, Energy sec says, ending oil surge
Airport chaos escalates pressure to resolve DHS government shutdown
Warrants served in New Jersey, Pennsylvania as feds look into possible NYC terrorism
How Fairfax County’s sanctuary policies led to an illegal immigrant murdering an innocent woman
A cure for cancer would deliver $185T economic windfall, report says
Minnesota taxpayers on the hook for race-based teacher recruitment
US conducts strike on another boat carrying suspected narco-traffickers, killing 6 people
Pennsylvania state trooper fatally shot during traffic stop, officials say
Before-and-after satellite imagery offers a rare look at damage inside Iran
Police recover third device in ongoing Manhattan IED investigation after two arrests
Police swarm NYC street Sunday amid IED probe near Gracie Mansion
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.
EXCLUSIVE: Trump rejects shielding Biden records from Senate probes in executive privilege showdown
DHS hammers Dems over airport security lines amid funding lapse
The Most Dishonest Headline We’ve Ever Seen: The NYT’s Headline on the Islamist IED Attack at Mamdani’s Mansion Will Blow Your Mind
Iranian Women’s Soccer Team Appears to Cry for Help with Subtle Hand Gesture
Tankers to resume normal movement in Middle East in ‘a few weeks’ at worst, Energy sec says, ending oil surge
Airport chaos escalates pressure to resolve DHS government shutdown
Warrants served in New Jersey, Pennsylvania as feds look into possible NYC terrorism
How Fairfax County’s sanctuary policies led to an illegal immigrant murdering an innocent woman
A cure for cancer would deliver $185T economic windfall, report says
Minnesota taxpayers on the hook for race-based teacher recruitment
US conducts strike on another boat carrying suspected narco-traffickers, killing 6 people
Pennsylvania state trooper fatally shot during traffic stop, officials say
Before-and-after satellite imagery offers a rare look at damage inside Iran
Police recover third device in ongoing Manhattan IED investigation after two arrests
Police swarm NYC street Sunday amid IED probe near Gracie Mansion
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.
