Posted on 05/18/2019 7:11:01 AM PDT by Kaslin
The Democrats have set a fairly low bar to qualify for the first round of debates this summer, but it’s still a bar nonetheless. Not everyone is on track to meet it either. The ones in danger of not making the cut include New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, despite having gotten into the race relatively early and being the beneficiary of significant earned media. And now New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is in the race (for some reason) and is facing the same challenges. Will he be able to qualify? Even Hizzoner doesn’t seem to think so. (Politico)
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio acknowledged Friday he may not qualify for the first presidential debate next month, but argued that isn’t a telltale sign about his overall chances of winning the Democratic nomination.
As he kicked off his campaign here in the nation’s first presidential selection state, the mayor said he has achieved one debate stage requirement: securing at least 1 percent in three polls. But given the size of the Democratic field, which now totals 23 candidates, he may also need to raise contributions from 65,000 individual donors.
De Blasio opened a federal campaign account Thursday. Per election rules, he cannot transfer any of the money he had been raising since last fall for the state and federal political action committees he set up as he mulled a White House bid.
I’m not sure where de Blasio is coming up with the three polls where he scores 1% or above. The latest Fox poll yesterday didn’t even include him. Monday’s Morning Consult survey did include de Blasio, but he literally registered 0%. Not one person picked him as their favorite. The Emerson poll on the same day didn’t include the mayor.
And let’s remember that the rules say that it has to be a reputable poll taken either nationally or in one of the early voting states. You can’t just send your wife out to ask thirty people in Central Park and come back saying you scored ten percent.
To be fair, none of these surveys were taken after de Blasio’s official announcement that he was running. Any candidate – possibly even de Blasio – can hope for some sort of bump or boomlet after their announcement, so maybe we’re all reading the cards wrong and there’s some sort of hidden pocket of de Blasio support lurking out there. But color me dubious at best.
The second half of the formula is the fundraising part. He’ll need to take in money from 65,000 people from a minimum of 20 states, including at least 200 unique donors per state. He only just opened up his campaign account on Thursday and he can’t transfer any of his PAC money or previous donations into it. Just doing one of those two things could qualify him for a spot in the debates, but the Democrats have already placed a limit on the total number of participants at twenty. Preference will be given to candidates who achieve both the polling numbers and fundraising goal if more than 20 qualify. Beyond that, they’ll pare it down by total polling numbers if they have to.
So where does that leave Bill de Blasio? In this one case, he’s probably correct. I’m guessing it will leave him watching the debates on television like the rest of us.
Oh noes!
We need Wilhelm!
PPV!
Even by the low standards of Dummycrats this guy is a piece of shit and a real beauty of a candidate !
He’s without a doubt in the bottom 3 mayors in the history of the country
I think all of them should Debate even if there’s a hundred of them on stage ,LOL
Already with the excuses!
I actually agree with him about the first debate. It will be “Orange man bad” ad nausea for three hours. It will be an entirely predictable event with each candidate leading the race to the left. Missable TV.
Who knew anyone could be worse than Dinkins.
Wilhelm isn’t in it to win it.
He’s in it for $$.
I’m shedding tears of disappointment. He needs time to find the $850 million in mental health funds his wife “misplaced”
He’ll do himself better by not being there...
How is the vast number of candidates even practical?
A typical debate is about 2 hours (120 minutes) ... longer than that, people tune out
So if there’s 30 candidates, each gets 4 minutes to speak (can’t discriminate!) ... so you have each debate covering one topic, with everybody getting 4 minutes? Or two topics, and everybody gets a whopping 2 minutes?
This is a joke, it’s no way to learn about candidates and their positions, and will turn OFF the country ... besides, Biden’s already got it locked up, why do the others even bother?
Do you suppose any of the candidates will break away from the pack and actually mention something derogatory about their primary opponents? None of the lesser candidates are going to be able to make up ground by out orange man badding Slo Joe or Crazy Bernie.
I'm sure that's because the DNC is prejudiced against New Yorkers, and people of German descent. (Oops, sorry. I meant people of Italian descent. de Blasio is Italian these days.)
And I don't buy the DNC's not-enough-room argument. All they have to do is put some bleachers on the stage.
Go back home, you groundhog killin’ fool!
Why did he change his name from Warren Wilhelm!? What kind of Man changes his name like this? What was calculation? This is the weirdness factor everyday Americans despise.
Is he implying he won’t make the debate because he’s too busy, or because the process is “unfair?”
Major dweeb, this guy. If it weren’t for Sydney Leathers, he would never have been elected.
No other possibility. He can’t even hope to be picked off the trash heap, the way Biden was in ‘08....Washington’s paltry Electoral College votes are already a Dem lock.
Yep, just fill the stage rabid barking moonbats and let them shout over eachother for an hour.
When they are done, give the loudest mouth the demonrat nomination.
> Why did he change his name from Warren Wilhelm!? <
Ol’ Warren actually went through two name changes.
Warren Wilhelm —> Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm —> Bill de Blasio
I’d advice him to keep on going, as “Bill de Blasio” is not gaining any traction in the presidential polls. Perhaps he should change his name to “Hillary Roosevelt-Kennedy”.
I dunno - maybe this isn't the first name change. Does the name Wilhelm Ludwig de Fellasio ring a bell? A little kinky - but he fits kinky to a T.
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