With the deadline to qualify for next month’s third round of Democratic presidential debates closing in, the Democratic National Committee is facing an angry chorus of criticism from the candidates not likely to make the cut.At issue is the DNC’s criteria for the contenders to take part in the prime-time showdown, including contributions from 130,000 individual donors and reaching at least 2 percent in four qualifying polls. 2020 DEMOCRATIC WHITE HOUSE HOPEFULS CRITICIZES DNC DEBATE CRITERIA WHILE SHARING STAGE WITH PARTY CHAIR “The DNC’s process is stifling debate at a time when we need it most,” charged Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado – a lower-tier White House contender who is all but certain not to qualify for the third round. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who also needs a miracle to qualify by the end-of-Wednesday deadline, argued that “these DNC debate rules have turned this primary into the ‘The Hunger Games’ — each step of this seems to be all about getting donors.” While the criticism is not new – the DNC faced similar jabs earlier this year when many of the longer-shots for the nomination struggled to make the stage at the first and second round of debates – this time around the national party committee is specifically being attacked over the dearth of qualifying polls. Critics say this is unfairly preventing candidates to qualifying from actually making the stage. The campaign of billionaire environmental and progressive activist Tom Steyer – who’s just one poll short of making the stage – charged that its candidate is “being denied” the ability to qualify “by the lack of recent qualifying polls.” BULLOCK ACCUSES STEYER OF TRYING TO BUY HIS WAY ONTO DEBATE STAGE Steyer’s campaign on Friday called on the DNC "to expand their polling criteria to include more qualifying polling, including at least one poll in Nevada before the deadline next week. As a party, we want to ensure the will of the voters is respected.” Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii is two polls shy of qualifying for the third round of debates. Her campaign urged that the DNC “revise their list of debate qualifying polls in light of numerous irregularities in the selection and timing of those polls, to ensure transparency and fairness.” The Gabbard campaign also argued that “the DNC has not released their criteria for selecting the 16 polling organizations they deemed ‘certified.’” The congresswoman’s campaign noted that Gabbard topped “2 percent support in 26 national and early state polls, but only two of them are on the DNC’s ‘certified’ list.” Gabbard registered at 3 percent in the only live telephone operator conducted poll in the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state of New Hampshire. That poll was the first to come out since the second round of Democratic presidential primary debates late last month. But the survey – from the Boston Globe and Suffolk University – is not on the DNC’s list of qualifying polls. DNC War Room director Adrienne Watson defended the criter
2020 Democrats fume at DNC over debate criteria crackdown
With the deadline to qualify for next month’s third round of Democratic presidential debates closing in, the Democratic National Committee is facing an angry chorus of criticism from the candidates not likely to make the cut.At issue is the DNC’s criteria for the contenders to take part in the prime-time showdown, including contributions from 130,000 individual donors and reaching at least 2 percent in four qualifying polls. 2020 DEMOCRATIC WHITE HOUSE HOPEFULS CRITICIZES DNC DEBATE CRITERIA WHILE SHARING STAGE WITH PARTY CHAIR “The DNC’s process is stifling debate at a time when we need it most,” charged Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado – a lower-tier White House contender who is all but certain not to qualify for the third round. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who also needs a miracle to qualify by the end-of-Wednesday deadline, argued that “these DNC debate rules have turned this primary into the ‘The Hunger Games’ — each step of this seems to be all about getting donors.” While the criticism is not new – the DNC faced similar jabs earlier this year when many of the longer-shots for the nomination struggled to make the stage at the first and second round of debates – this time around the national party committee is specifically being attacked over the dearth of qualifying polls. Critics say this is unfairly preventing candidates to qualifying from actually making the stage. The campaign of billionaire environmental and progressive activist Tom Steyer – who’s just one poll short of making the stage – charged that its candidate is “being denied” the ability to qualify “by the lack of recent qualifying polls.” BULLOCK ACCUSES STEYER OF TRYING TO BUY HIS WAY ONTO DEBATE STAGE Steyer’s campaign on Friday called on the DNC "to expand their polling criteria to include more qualifying polling, including at least one poll in Nevada before the deadline next week. As a party, we want to ensure the will of the voters is respected.” Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii is two polls shy of qualifying for the third round of debates. Her campaign urged that the DNC “revise their list of debate qualifying polls in light of numerous irregularities in the selection and timing of those polls, to ensure transparency and fairness.” The Gabbard campaign also argued that “the DNC has not released their criteria for selecting the 16 polling organizations they deemed ‘certified.’” The congresswoman’s campaign noted that Gabbard topped “2 percent support in 26 national and early state polls, but only two of them are on the DNC’s ‘certified’ list.” Gabbard registered at 3 percent in the only live telephone operator conducted poll in the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state of New Hampshire. That poll was the first to come out since the second round of Democratic presidential primary debates late last month. But the survey – from the Boston Globe and Suffolk University – is not on the DNC’s list of qualifying polls. DNC War Room director Adrienne Watson defended the criter
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