According to the New York Times at www.nytimes.com/... , 17 candidates have now qualified for the two Democratic presidential debates currently scheduled in June.
Now the DNC/DNC Chair Tom Perez continue to insist that they will cut off the number of candidates at 20. That would mean two debates, capped at no more than 10 candidates apiece.
But the current 17 qualified candidates are almost certainly not the final number. Right now there are two active candidates who seem very likely to qualify shortly: Marianne Williamson now has over 51,000 donors which means she’s less than 14,000 donors away, and Representative Seth Moulton will almost certainly qualify soon.
In addition, two more heavyweight candidates appear almost certain to throw their hats into the ring in weeks as well: Colorado Senator Michael Bennet and Montana Governor Steve Bullock, both of whom will probably acquire the requisite number of donors in short order as well.
Which means that even if no one else gets in, and even if no one else qualifies, we’re already at 21 candidates.
And it might not stop there. Just this week, Georgia’s Stacey Abrams announced that she would not be running for a U.S. Senate seat from that state. Having expressed it as her intention to run again for elective office, it’s not too hard to guess that she is now looking seriously at a presidential bid.
The fact is that this is a wide-open race. No one has any clear idea of the final shape of the field, of who will make it to the finals, who’s going to surprise, who’s going to amaze, who’s going to catch lightning.
Which means everyone should be given a chance. Everyone should participate. Everyone should be seen.
It’s time for the DNC/Perez to acknowledge the inevitable and get ahead of it. It’s time for them to do the right thing. It’s time for them to drop this arbitrary 20-candidate limit.
It’s time to open up a third June debate.
UPDATE: The Hill reports this morning that concerns are being raised about the crowded debates on June 26th and 27th: thehill.com/...
Well, duh! We knew, or should have known, that this was going to happen. The solution is obvious: Relieve the pressure and the crowding; open up that third debate, and drop that absurd and arbitrary 20-candidate limit. Every candidate will then get over 15 minutes, probably, to make their case, a much better arrangement than the 12-minute limit which would be imposed on a 10-candidate 2-hour debate.