Tag Archives: debate watch

The Associated Press reports: Billionaire Mike Bloomberg has qualified for the upcoming Democratic presidential debate, marking the first time he’ll stand alongside the rivals he has so far avoided by bypassing the early voting states and using his personal fortune to define himself through television ads. A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll published Tuesday shows Bloomberg with 19% support nationally in …

Politico reports: The DNC on Saturday rolled out the qualification rules for its presidential debate later this month in South Carolina — criteria that leave the door open for two billionaires, Mike Bloomberg and Tom Steyer, to join the top five candidates who emerged from Iowa and New Hampshire. To qualify for the Feb. 25 debate in Charleston, S.C., candidates …

CBS News reports: Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said it’s “very unfortunate” a rule change could allow his fellow presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg into the next Democratic debates. The qualifications no longer include a unique-donor threshold. “That is what being a multi-billionaire is about. Some very good friends of mine who were competing in the Democratic nomination — people like …

The Hill reports: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) touted on Friday that her presidential campaign had raised $1 million since the start of the primary debate in New Hampshire. Klobuchar, in her Twitter post, also urged supporters to help her hit $2 million by midnight. Friday night’s financial boost for Klobuchar comes after what appears to be a fifth-place showing in …

USA Today reports: After weeks of all eyes on Iowa, it’s time for New Hampshire’s turn in the spotlight. Seven Democratic presidential candidates are taking the debate stage Friday in Manchester, New Hampshire, at St. Anselm College’s Thomas F. Sullivan Arena. The debate will be the first one since January, and will be the first one since issues surrounding the …

The Hill reports: Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) presidential campaign ripped the Democratic National Committee (DNC) over its new debate qualifications, saying it is supporting “a rigged system.” The Sanders campaign criticized the DNC after it dropped the donor threshold for the Feb. 19 primary debate in Nevada. The move could open the door for former New York City Mayor Michael …

Politico reports: The Democratic National Committee is drastically revising its criteria to participate in primary debates after New Hampshire, doubling the polling threshold and eliminating the individual donor requirement, which could pave the way for former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg to make the stage beginning in mid-February. Candidates will need to earn at least 10 percent in four …

Axios reports: Andrew Yang on Jan. 26 became the seventh Democrat to qualify for the February debate after polling above 5% in UNH/CNN’s New Hampshire survey, his fourth qualifying poll. The Democratic National Committee added a new method for contenders to qualify for its February debate, allowing any candidate who wins at least one pledged delegate to the DNC from …

The New York Times reports: President Trump’s campaign is considering only participating in general election debates if an outside firm serves as the host, and his advisers recently sat down with the nonprofit Commission on Presidential Debates to complain about the debates it hosted in 2016. The Dec. 19 meeting between Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., a prominent Republican and co-chairman …

ABC News reports: The Democratic National Committee announced the qualifying rules for the Democratic debate on Feb. 7, the first matchup after voting begins, which will be hosted by ABC News, ABC’s New Hampshire affiliate WMUR-TV and Apple News. The slightly modified criteria for the debate, which is sandwiched evenly between the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3 and the New …

CBS News reports: Six Democratic presidential candidates will be making their case on Tuesday night from Des Moines, where the last debate before the Iowa caucuses — the first nominating contest of 2020 — will kick off at 9 p.m. ET on CNN. The stage is set for a clash between two of the top contenders and progressive allies, Senators …

CNN reports: Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont will stand at center stage in Tuesday night’s CNN/Des Moines Register Democratic presidential debate. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts will be to the left of Biden, and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg will be to the right of Sanders. Businessman Tom Steyer will stand next …

NPR reports: Billionaire activist Tom Steyer on Thursday likely became the latest candidate to qualify after two Fox News polls from Nevada and South Carolina showed him in the double digits. Steyer has been spending millions of dollars in early states to boost his chances. That means he will join the other five candidates who had already qualified: former Vice …

CNN reports: The seventh Democratic presidential debate will be moderated by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Abby Phillip as well as The Des Moines Register’s Brianne Pfannenstiel next week, the network announced on Wednesday. Blitzer anchors “The Situation Room” on CNN. Phillip is a political correspondent for the network. Pfannenstiel is chief political correspondent for the Register. CNN, in partnership with …

Politico reports: Mike Bloomberg is starting to take heat from Democratic rivals for running an imperial campaign: Using his personal fortune to finance an infinite stream of TV ads while refusing to engage his opponents and defend his record on a live debate stage. To that he says: Too bad. At a campaign stop here, the former New York mayor …

Politico reports: The Democratic presidential debate stage is set to shrink again next week. Only five candidates so far have earned spots in the Jan. 14 CNN/Des Moines Register debate in Iowa: Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Tom Steyer, Andrew Yang and Cory Booker will all watch from the sidelines unless they see polling …

The New York Times reports: The Democratic National Committee will again increase the qualification standards for its next debate in January, requiring candidates to receive at least 5 percent support in four qualifying polls, or 7 percent in two early-state polls, making it likely that the field of candidates will be winnowed further for the event. The announcement on Friday …

Politico reports: The simmering feud between Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg the past few weeks had been confined to a tit-for-tat followed mostly by political reporters and political junkies. On Thursday, it spilled into open view before a national audience — and in captivating fashion. In a riveting, minutes-long exchange that punctuated just how much the two leading candidates view …

Politico reports: The mythology of presidential debates is all about fateful moments — clever lines or terrible blunders or cutting exchanges that unfold in seconds but live in memory for decades. The best examples still echo: Ronald Reagan stealing the show in a Republican primary debate in 1980 by saying he paid for that microphone, Lloyd Bentsen in 1988 telling …

Politico reports: The PBS NewsHour/POLITICO debate among Democratic presidential candidates appears poised to proceed as scheduled on Thursday, after the national party organization helped broker a last-minute resolution to a labor dispute that had threatened to upend the televised forum. All seven White House contenders who qualified for the debate at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles threatened Friday to …