Booker slams Democratic debate rules as he ends Iowa tour

[left-of-center2012]

Fighting to be in the next Democratic presidential debate, Cory Booker concluded a nearly 800-mile, 12-county tour of Iowa on Sunday by criticizing the Democratic party for allowing “elites” and “money” to control who gets on stage ...

Just six candidates are qualified for the Dec. 19 debate, and Booker is not one of them. He’s met the threshold of donors required to qualify but he has yet to hit the polling qualifications — either 4% support in at least four polls or 6% support in two early-state polls. The deadline is Thursday, and he’s yet to hit the mark on a single poll.

Xochitl Hinojosa, a spokeswoman for the DNC, called the party’s debate rules “inclusive” and said no candidate who has gone on to be the party’s nominee has polled lower than 4% at this point in past primaries. “While we are legally required to have objective criteria for each debate, our qualifying criteria has stayed extremely low throughout this entire process,” she said in an emailed statement. “We’ve never seen a political party take this many steps to be inclusive.”

Booker has just four more days to see enthusiasm reflected in the polls. If he’s not on stage, he has committed to campaigning in Iowa that day. Warren, Buttigieg, former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Amy Klobuchar, and businessman Tom Steyer will also be onstage.

https://apnews.com/0a3e5f3cc711aa873b7fab43c8f97d2b

[evertonfc]

1. I like Booker but

If you can't pull 4% at this point, what do you want? A debate stage with 20 People?

[SterlingPound]

7. at this point? we still have 11 months to go

[evertonfc]

8. no.

not in the primary. His message, for whatever reason, isn't resonating.

[SterlingPound]

11. and do you think it is acceptable to have primaries this far out

to have weeks and months between state primaries for the media and other corrupt entities to play with Americas vote
I sure as hell don't and never will.

[W_HAMILTON]

2. His rehearsed attack lines never got him polling higher than the margin of error...

...so now he starts with the rigging nonsense.

The voters have seen enough of you Cory -- they apparently just didn't like what they saw.

Don't dig your hole even deeper by trashing the party on your way out.

[still_one]

3. Is that the reason he thinks he isn't doing well?

[msongs]

4. booker unable to get people to support him, blames DNC for his own failure nt

[question everything]

5. He has a point, which was articualted by Delaney

Posted here several weeks ago

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287328320

He argues that a large reason for this early nationalization—and for the move left—has been the rules the Democratic National Committee established for inclusion in the party’s nationally televised debates, which provide the crucial oxygen campaigns need. Those rules set thresholds for both standing in national and early-state polls and, crucially, the number of small-dollar donors attracted. That requirement for many small donors, Mr. Delaney argued, pushes candidates to appeal on social media to the activists on the party’s left, who are most likely to jump in early with their dollars. “If you need to raise a dollar online, you don’t talk about bipartisan solutions,” Mr. Delaney says. “You talk about extreme partisan positions.”

He offers this example: “If I were to post something about getting rid of the Electoral College, it would do really well on social media among Democratic activists. If I were to post something about expanding early childhood education, and talking about a bipartisan way to make that happen, it would go over like a thud on social media. No one cares. So the feedback loop really encourages people to run on things that are more extreme.” If that’s the case, this dynamic has fed and amplified the rush of support for Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, and pressure on other candidates to follow them leftward.

====

I wish that Booker and others would have realized this earlier. Yes, I know, there were comments here that the candidates knew and agreed to the rules but, of course, once they are tested, things are different.

He appeared this morning on the ABC show

[Joe941]

6. He isnt totally wrong.

[tritsofme]

9. The rules are already ridiculously over-broad, he should just drop out and get it over with.

He’s not going to be the nominee. What is the purpose of his campaign at this point?

[SterlingPound]

12. then shouldn't everyone but Biden since that is who the party owners want to be the candidate?

[tritsofme]

13. The top 4 are legitimate contenders, the others are not.

[StarfishSaver]

16. What make them "legitimate"? The polls?

Why not then just dispense with campaigning and let the Gallup organization pick our nominee?

[SterlingPound]

14. the rules are ridicoulouse but not becauase of being too inclusive

some of you whine about 10 or 20 candidates being on the stage but why not 5 moderators

why are they not doing 5 debates a week with 2 candidates

why are they not doing debates between the moderates and the progressives hell they can team the up

why didn't the DNC just stream the debates and offer them to all the channels instead of selling a few rights to a few channels

is this about the DNC making money


OR IS IT ABOUT INFORMING OUR CITIZENS?

[StarfishSaver]

15. Yes. Why bother to campaign - you know, go out and try to convince people to vote for him - since

at this moment in time, the polls show that a majority of voters don't support him?

Why have a campaign at all? Why not just take a poll in July 2019 and whoever comes out on top gets to be the nominee?

[tritsofme]

17. The polls are what they are.

He gave it a good shot, but people just aren’t buying what he’s selling.

Staying the race long enough to prove them right isn’t going to improve his prospects.

[aikoaiko]

10. I have a soft spot for Booker.

He showed courage when confronting powerful people in the party. Much like Harris.

But we need to winnow the slate.