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.


Top California Dem running for office tied to Chinese school accused of US diploma scandal
Appeals court rules ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ can stay open, rejecting push for federal environmental impact review
EXCLUSIVE: DHS honors angel families during National Crime Victims Week, calls crimes ‘completely preventable’
Democrats win Virginia redistricting fight, threatening Republican House majority
‘Melrose Place’ and ‘Starship Troopers’ Actor Patrick Muldoon Dies at Age 57
Top House Republican Warns Ilhan Omar That Her Financial Disclosure Revision Won’t Save Her
EXCLUSIVE: Pence warns GOP ‘must deliver,’ or Planned Parenthood gets taxpayer cash on Fourth of July deadline
House Republican Campaign Committee Blows Democrats Away with Historic Fundraising Quarter
Pro-Iran Jimmy Kimmel Mocks Peace Talks, Says He’s ‘More Likely to Believe the Ayatollah’ Than Trump
Democrat Trying to Flip Pennsylvania Seat Apologizes for Pro-Police, Pro-Gun, Pro-God Posts
Trump Recounts Helping Out ‘Incomparable’ Tim Cook as Longtime Apple CEO Steps Down
Federal court upholds Texas law requiring Ten Commandments in public classrooms
DOJ says Southern Poverty Law Center funneled $3M+ to white supremacist and extremist groups
DOJ says Southern Poverty Law Center funneled $3M+ to white supremacist and extremist groups like the KKK
Trump and DeSantis Discuss Appointment to Key Administration Position: Report

See also  Republicans Cline and Presler rally against Virginia redistricting vote

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.


Top California Dem running for office tied to Chinese school accused of US diploma scandal
Appeals court rules ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ can stay open, rejecting push for federal environmental impact review
EXCLUSIVE: DHS honors angel families during National Crime Victims Week, calls crimes ‘completely preventable’
Democrats win Virginia redistricting fight, threatening Republican House majority
‘Melrose Place’ and ‘Starship Troopers’ Actor Patrick Muldoon Dies at Age 57
Top House Republican Warns Ilhan Omar That Her Financial Disclosure Revision Won’t Save Her
EXCLUSIVE: Pence warns GOP ‘must deliver,’ or Planned Parenthood gets taxpayer cash on Fourth of July deadline
House Republican Campaign Committee Blows Democrats Away with Historic Fundraising Quarter
Pro-Iran Jimmy Kimmel Mocks Peace Talks, Says He’s ‘More Likely to Believe the Ayatollah’ Than Trump
Democrat Trying to Flip Pennsylvania Seat Apologizes for Pro-Police, Pro-Gun, Pro-God Posts
Trump Recounts Helping Out ‘Incomparable’ Tim Cook as Longtime Apple CEO Steps Down
Federal court upholds Texas law requiring Ten Commandments in public classrooms
DOJ says Southern Poverty Law Center funneled $3M+ to white supremacist and extremist groups
DOJ says Southern Poverty Law Center funneled $3M+ to white supremacist and extremist groups like the KKK
Trump and DeSantis Discuss Appointment to Key Administration Position: Report

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  Virginia redistricting referendum tightens into a dead heat as early voting surges

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