The DNC has eliminated a donor rule that would have excluded former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Just ahead of the 2020 Democrat debate in Los Vegas scheduled for February 19, the DNC is rushing to make room for the ice cream-loving candidate most popular with left-leaning… dogs?
Dog people get me. Dogs too. #DogsFurMike pic.twitter.com/gGejm10vZQ
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) January 29, 2020
The DNC is eliminating the individual donor requirement that would have prevented Bloomberg from taking the stage. Candidates will still need to earn at least ten points in four polls released between January 15 and February 18, or 12 in two Nevada or South Carolina polls. Anyone who can claim at least one delegate in either the Iowa caucuses or New Hampshire primary will also be eligible.
“Now that the grassroots support is actually captured in real voting, the criteria will no longer require a donor threshold,” said DNC spokesperson Adrienne Watson. “The donor threshold was appropriate for the opening stages of the race, when candidates were building their organizations, and there were no metrics available outside of polling to distinguish those making progress from those who weren’t.”
Despite the relaxed requirements, only three candidates are eligible for the February 19 debate at this time. They are Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and potential new national front-runner Bernie Sanders. But Bloomberg’s rapidly-growing support is already cruising past Warren, credited to his popularity among “Baby Boomers, high-income earners, [and] rural Americans and Democrats without a college degree.”
Whether that is enough to make it to a Vegas podium — let alone a nomination from the DNC — remains to be seen.
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