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.
Anna ‘Delvey’ Sorokin still posting from New York City as DHS signals her deportation may finally be coming
Federal agents in New Jersey beat back anti-ICE agitators in chaos outside Delaney Hall detention facility
US Military Carries Out Deadly Strike on Drug-Smuggling Vessel in Eastern Pacific
U.S. Rushing to Set Up Ebola Quarantine Facility: Report
ACLU hit with foreign money complaint as new election law faces major test
New York sheriffs ‘mad as hell’ as Hochul pushes to ban key law enforcement partnership
WATCH: Purple Heart veteran reacts to Platner’s refusal to apologize for mocking him, shreds PTSD excuse
Israel kills top Hamas military chief in airstrike
Pakistan: America’s most complicated ally — and why Trump is betting on it again
Russia’s drone invasion and the grim realities of remote combat: ‘It’s gonna kill you’
All 50,000 evacuees cleared to return home after chemical tank crisis at Southern California aerospace plant
Pam Bondi diagnosed with thyroid cancer weeks after departing as Trump’s attorney general: report
Ex-NFL linebacker poised to return to Congress after Texas runoff win with Jasmine Crockett endorsement
Trump-backed Air Force veteran wins GOP runoff in newly-redistricted House district
U.S. military kills alleged narco-terrorist in lethal strike on drug-trafficking vessel in Eastern Pacific
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.
Anna ‘Delvey’ Sorokin still posting from New York City as DHS signals her deportation may finally be coming
Federal agents in New Jersey beat back anti-ICE agitators in chaos outside Delaney Hall detention facility
US Military Carries Out Deadly Strike on Drug-Smuggling Vessel in Eastern Pacific
U.S. Rushing to Set Up Ebola Quarantine Facility: Report
ACLU hit with foreign money complaint as new election law faces major test
New York sheriffs ‘mad as hell’ as Hochul pushes to ban key law enforcement partnership
WATCH: Purple Heart veteran reacts to Platner’s refusal to apologize for mocking him, shreds PTSD excuse
Israel kills top Hamas military chief in airstrike
Pakistan: America’s most complicated ally — and why Trump is betting on it again
Russia’s drone invasion and the grim realities of remote combat: ‘It’s gonna kill you’
All 50,000 evacuees cleared to return home after chemical tank crisis at Southern California aerospace plant
Pam Bondi diagnosed with thyroid cancer weeks after departing as Trump’s attorney general: report
Ex-NFL linebacker poised to return to Congress after Texas runoff win with Jasmine Crockett endorsement
Trump-backed Air Force veteran wins GOP runoff in newly-redistricted House district
U.S. military kills alleged narco-terrorist in lethal strike on drug-trafficking vessel in Eastern Pacific
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.
