Alex Rego, Tara Prindiville, Andrew Craft, Allie Raffa, Andres del Agiula and Rob DiRienzo highlight that the DNC's change to the debate criteria were quickly criticized by a number Bloomberg’s rivals.
“To now change the rules in the middle of the game to accommodate Mike Bloomberg, who is trying to buy his way into the Democratic nomination, is wrong. That’s the definition of a rigged system,” senior Bernie Sanders campaign adviser Jeff Weaver said in a statement soon after the news of the DNC’s move broke.
During his 2016 run for the Democratic nomination, Sanders and supporters heavily criticized the DNC for a lack of debates. After months of protests, Sanders and his rival -- eventual nominee Hillary Clinton -- agreed with the DNC to add more debates later in the primary calendar.
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang — who has advocated for relaxing the requirements before, albeit to encourage diversity on the debate stage — made and even more pointed critique.
Yang accused the party of not only tailoring the debate criteria to include the billionaire, but suggested Bloomberg has tried to avoid the scrutiny debates can bring. “The truth is I don’t think Mike particularly wants to debate,” he said in a tweet late Friday.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren responded to the rule change by highlighting her campaign’s focus on fighting corruption and inequality.
“The DNC didn’t change the rules to ensure good, diverse candidates could remain on the debate stage,” she tweeted. “They shouldn’t change the rules to let a billionaire on. Billionaires shouldn’t be allowed to play by different rules—on the debate stage, in our democracy, or in our government.”
And former Vice President Joe Biden expressed confusion and consternation about the new rules, quipping that Bloomberg isn’t campaigning in the state, which would seem to make any potential appearance on the debate stage useless — at least in the short term.
Biden reacts to DNC rule change that means Bloomberg could make the Feb. 19 debate in Nevada – straight to the point:— Emily Larsen (@emilyelarsen) February 1, 2020
"HE'S NOT EVEN ON THE BALLOT IN NEVADA!" his face in this close up lmao pic.twitter.com/rcbweViLWM
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) January 31, 2020
Democrats should not be connecting the ability to be heard to money. Period.— Steve Bullock (@GovernorBullock) January 31, 2020
DNC did that in setting debate requirements & in removing them. You link money & politics, process gets corrupted. Dems should be rejecting money’s influence, not letting it guide our primary.
Sen. Corey Booker’s (D-NJ) former campaign manager, Addisu Demissie, tweeted in response to the rule change that among the most significant days on the campaign trail was when the DNC announced a 130,000 donor threshold to qualify for the next debate stage.
“Oh, do you mean the day I literally Control+A+ Deleted a plan for a whole entire early game, early state persuasion strategy and used the money to buy email addresses instead?” former Booker deputy campaign manager Jenna Lowenstein responded. “I don’t remember it. Blacked it out.”
At least one campaign endorsed the change: Bloomberg’s
“We are thrilled that voters could soon have the chance to see Mike Bloomberg on the debate stage, hear his vision for the country, and see why he is the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump and bring our country together,” the former New York City mayor’s campaign manager said.
Democrats drop donor threshold for Nevada debate, opening door to Bloomberg
ReplyDeleteThe Democratic National Committee announced Friday that there will be no donor threshold for its upcoming Nevada debate, opening the door for former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to qualify for his first contest.
The new rules reflect the changing landscape in the Democratic primary and focus more on support in polls and in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two nominating states.
In order to qualify for the February 19 debate, a candidate either needs: 10% in four qualifying national, Nevada or South Carolina polls; or 12% in two qualifying polls from Nevada or South Carolina.
A candidate is also able to qualify if they receive a single delegate from either the Iowa caucuses or the New Hampshire primary.
The donor threshold, which previously required candidates to receives donations from a certain number of people, have been dropped.
Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the DNC, said the committee opted to end the donor threshold because now that "grassroots support is actually captured in real voting, the criteria will no longer require a donor threshold."
"The donor threshold was appropriate for the opening stages of the race, when candidates were building their organizations and there were no metrics available outside of polling to distinguish those making progress from those who weren't," Watson said.
The Bloomberg campaign celebrated the changes to the DNC rules.
ReplyDelete"We are thrilled that voters could soon have the chance to see Mike Bloomberg on the debate stage, hear his vision for the country, and see why he is the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump and bring our country together," said Kevin Sheekey, Bloomberg's campaign manager.
Bloomberg, despite rising poll numbers, has failed to qualify for any debate since getting into the race in November because the multi-billionaire is self-funding his presidential campaign and therefore not taking donations.
Bloomberg has yet to qualify for the Nevada debate, but his omnipresence on cable and local television airwaves has helped boost his national poll numbers in recent weeks. A NBC/Wall Street Journal nationwide poll released on Friday found, however, that the former New York Mayor had 9% support, just one percentage point off from the threshold.
A Quinnipiac University poll from this month also found Bloomberg at 8%, in the same pack as Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
Bloomberg is skipping the first four nominating contests, so it is unlikely that he will receive a delegate from either Iowa or New Hampshire.
But a number of Bloomberg's rivals and their campaigns slammed the changes.
"To now change the rules in the middle of the game to accommodate Mike Bloomberg, who is trying to buy his way into the Democratic nomination, is wrong," said Jeff Weaver, a senior adviser to Sanders. "That's the definition of a rigged system where the rich can buy their way in."
Tom Steyer, a fellow billionaire and Democratic candidate, also attacked the change: "Let's make one thing clear: changing the rules now to accommodate Mike Bloomberg and not changing them in the past to ensure a more diverse debate stage is just plain wrong."
Businessman Andrew Yang's campaign, too, criticized the DNC.
"It's a mistake for @TheDemocrats to change the rules for debates in the middle of this race to yield to a billionaire. We need to respect the grassroots movement leading this party forward," SY Lee, Yang's national press secretary, tweeted.
The former New York mayor has spent hundreds of millions on television, digital and radio ads, worrying some opponents who believe he is being unchallenged because he hasn't been on the debate stage.
Buttigieg seemingly welcomed the news, telling reporters on Friday that he will "leave it to the DNC to set the rules and then we compete under them," but that he believes "it is important that we have that process where folks have to stand with their competitors and explain why each of us is the best."
Prior to the DNC's announcement, Klobuchar had made a similar point.
"I think that instead of just putting your money out there, he's actually got to be on the stage and be able to go back and forth so that voters can evaluate him," Klobuchar said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which has endorsed Warren in the Democratic primary, has asked the Democratic National Committee to change its debate criteria to ensure Bloomberg's inclusion if he climbs substantially in the polls.
Dan Kanninen, Bloomberg's states director, told CNN this week that the mayor is confident he would be able to "handle himself in the debate."
"Mike Bloomberg is a pretty tough guy himself," Kanninen said, "and someone who has been mayor of New York ... for three terms and knows how to handle himself in the debate."