Democratic debates 'to slash number of candidates in half' for crucial showdown
Democrats are set to slash the number of candidates taking part in their next, vital debate - a move that could have dramatic consequences for the race to take on Donald Trump in 2020.
For the first two debates, 20 candidates set about each other over the course of two different nights, a spectacle many said did not give sufficient time or opportunity for people to express their ideas. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) said it was sharply raising the qualification requirements for the third debate in Houston next month, in order to thin out the crowd.
But for a miracle, the ten who will appear at the Houston’s Texas Southern University on September 12 will be Joe Biden, who is polling at 37 per cent according to a DNC average cited by Politico, Bernie Sanders (21), Elizabeth Warren (20), Kamala Harris (17), Pete Buttigieg (7), Cory Booker (3), Amy Klobuchar (3), Andrew Yang (3), Julián Castro (3) and Beto O’Rourke (3).
The qualifications for the third debate required candidates to have received contributions from at least 130,000 donors, with at least 400 unique donors per state in at least 20 states. They also had to have secured two per cent support in a minimum of four qualifying polls. A number of candidates, including Montana governor Steve Bullock and Hawaiian congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, criticised those regulations. On Monday, Ms Gabbard termed them “cockamamie criteria”.
Ms Gabbard and another candidate, billionaire Tom Steyer, had been very close to reaching the qualifications for the third debate and forcing the DNC to spread the event over two nights.
Mr Steyer, an environmentalist, had spent at least $12m in adverts that helped him reach the 130,000 donor requirement, but he only managed two per cent in two polls. Ms Gabbard, a military veteran who has spoken out about the US’s involvement in foreign wars, had reached three per cent in several polls, but they were not those recognised by the DNC.
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On Wednesday, two new polls she and Mr Steyer had been relying on to push them over the line ahead of Wednesday’s midnight deadline, did not show any surge in support for any of the trailing candidates. Neither Ms Gabbard or Mr Steyer crossed the two per cent threshold in the polls released by Quinnipiac University, and USA Today/Suffolk University.
In the Quinnipiac poll, Mr Biden, the former vice president, was in the lead on 32, with Ms Warren on 19 point and Mr Sanders on 15.
The single night format could have a dramatic impact on the race. Mr Biden, the frontrunner, has generally been reckoned to have had two bad debates, and was strongly attacked in the first by Ms Harris, raising questions about his ability to think on his feet, and about the wisdom of his running at the age of 76.
The third debate will now see him confronted not just by Ms Harris, but also by Ms Warren, who is widely believed to have been among the strongest performers in the the first events, and has debating skills that combine emotional power with a forensic grip on policy details.
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