Outsider candidates and pot-stirring groups plan debate-night TV ads

[brooklynite]

Politico

He wasn’t invited, but Seth Moulton wants to crash the first Democratic presidential primary debates.

The Massachusetts congressman, polling at 0 percent, is doing anything he can to get on television this week. Despite not qualifying for the debates, he’s traveling to Miami, anyway. And since he won’t be among the 20 candidates on stage Wednesday or Thursday, he’s purchasing commercial airtime to reach viewers in the early primary and caucus states.

“I won’t be on the debate stage tonight, so I’m introducing myself here,” Moulton says at the start of a direct-to-camera, low-budget spot, which the campaign says will air “during or right before” coverage of the debate on MSNBC in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

Moulton is just one of several candidates and outside political groups seeking to elbow in on a captive audience of Democratic voters tuning in for the first major events of the 2020 campaign, offering them an unrivaled opportunity to reach the electorate on NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo this week.

That’s particularly attractive for Moulton and the handful of other candidates advertising during or around the debates. Whether or not they will be participating in the debates this week, they are barely registering in the polls — and because the Democratic National Committee’s criteria are growing more stringent, they are in extreme danger of being excluded from debates beginning in September without a break-out moment.

[George II]

1. Just a waste of money.

[crazytown]

2. Why didn't LaRouche think of that?