There are so many Democrats running for president right now, it even dwarfs the 2016 Republican field of “wannabes.”
Democrat kingpins are facing a public relations backlash over their ever changing rules for who will qualify for the June 26th and 27th inaugural debates. In 2016, Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee partnered to marginalize Bernie Sanders in their primary showdowns; while the Republicans opted to have a main event (for their top tier poll leading candidates) and what they called the “under card” for those who barely registered a pulse in the primary voter support polls.
Unlike the crowded Republican debates in 2016 when current poll numbers qualified the candidate to be in the Main Event or in the “who the heck are these people” Under-card debate, Democrats will mix those at the top of the polls with those hoping to dredge up enough support to get them on the nominee’s list for Vice-President.
Who can wait to see a possible showdown between “Slow Joe” Biden and “let’s ban circumcision now” Andrew Yang?
Below are the convoluted rules (according to Newsweek correspondent Alexandra Hutzler 6/8/19) to qualify to be on the Democrat stage on either June 26th or 27th:
“1) Presidential candidates must do one of two things: poll at 1 percent in at least three surveys or receive donations from 65,000 people across various states.
2) In order to meet the polling requirement, the surveys must be national or conducted in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina or Nevada. The results of the polls also must be publicly released between January 1, 2019, and 14 days before the debate.
3) To reach the donation requirement, candidates need to have received monetary contributions from at least 65,000 unique donors. Those donations need to come from at least 20 states and each state needs to have had a minimum of 200 unique donors.”
After the first two debates, it will be harder to get on the Democrat debate dais. To be eligible for the next two day donnybrook you have to be registering at least 2% in the polls, have a minimum of 130,000 unique donors (with a minimum of 400 “unique” donors per state in at least 20 states. No confirmation on whether or not a generous donation to the Clinton Foundation or the “yet to be organized” Hunter Biden Chinese/Ukrainian Slush Fund will allow a candidate to circumvent all of the above rules.
So with the deadline to meet the qualifications for Democrat Debate Round 1 only days away, who is “in” and who is “out”?
Note: According to the Democrat Party eligibility rules, they will limit the number of candidates to 20 in Round 1. The following candidates (alphabetically listed) have met both the polling and fund raising requirements to be on the stage: (1)Joe Biden, (2) Michael Bennet, (3) Pete Buttigieg, (4) Bill de Blasio, (5) Cory Booker, (6) John Delaney, (7) Kirsten Gillibrand, (8) Kamala Harris, (9) John Hickenlooper, (10) Beto O’Rourke, (11) Tim Ryan, (12) Bernie Sanders (13) Eric Swalwell, (14) Elizabeth Warren.
The following candidates on life-support are expected to meet one of the two Debate I inclusion criteria by the June 12 deadline: (15) Julian Castro, (16) Tulsi Gabbard, (17) Jay Inslee, (18) Amy Klobuchar, and (19) Marianne Williamson.
Here’s where the plot thickens: there are three other declared Democrats who may fall short or could be eligible for Round 1: (20) Steve Bullock, (21) Wayne Messam, and (22) Seth Moulton. If they qualify, access to Round 1 will be determined by the top 20 candidates in the polls.
But what polls will count and what polls will be given less credence?
For example, a hot off the press poll out of Iowa shows the following Democrat dynamos generating less than 1% (listed as 0% in the Des Moines Register poll): Bill de Blasio, Kirsten Gillibrand, John Hickenlooper. Yet, these three candidates meet all the criteria to be on the debate stage, while Julian Castro beat them with a 1% show of support among Iowa voters. Since Iowa is the first test of a candidate’s presidential prowess and the Democrat criteria gives extra weight to poll numbers coming out of early primary and caucus states, wouldn’t it be just to give Castro a seat and bench Gillibrand, de Blasio, or Hickenlooper?
Another solution, not being proposed up until now, is for Joe Biden to skip Debate 1. Since announcing his candidacy in his third bid to be the Democrat’s presidential nominee, Biden has minimized his public appearances and ducked questions from the media… while steering clear of traditional “must attend” events for frontrunning Democrats. He might be more than happy to let Wayne Messam have his slot while he develops a better reason for a flip flop of biblical proportions on the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal tax dollars from funding abortions.
Maybe the Democrat National Committee should let Hillary Clinton make all their Primary decisions…that’s what they did in 2016.
Jayne Carroll hosted a daily talk show in afternoon drive time in the Portland, Oregon metro area for more than 20 years. She wrote a popular conservative newspaper column for over a decade. Her live shows and podcasts can now be heard at TheJayneCarrollShow.com in addition to her political commentary, “Jayne Says“. Jayne and her Producer Jeremy Scott can be contacted here. Guest appearances and speaking bookings can be arranged via email at [email protected].