We are less than two weeks away from the first Democratic presidential debate. It will be aired from 9pm to 11pm on two nights -- June 26th (Wednesday) and June 27th (Thursday). The DNC has approved 20 candidates to appear in the debate -- 10 on each night.
That leaves four candidates out of the debate -- Steve Bullock, Mike Gravel, Wayne Messam, and Seth Moulton. Some talking heads on cable news have been whining about the fairness of leaving those four out (especially Bullock, who is governor of a red state). I can't say I feel sorry for them. The qualification for the debate was a very low bar -- get 1% in at least three polls and have 65,000 individual donors. Any candidate that couldn't do that probably doesn't belong on the debate stage.
The candidates for June 26th that will be debating are:
Elizabeth Warren
Cory Booker
Beto O'Rourke
Amy Klobuchar
John Delaney
Tulsi Gabbard
Julian Castro
Tim Ryan
Bill de Blasio
Jay Inslee
The candidates for June 27th that will be debating are:
Joe Biden
Kamala Harris
Pete Buttigieg
Bernie Sanders
Michael Bennet
Marianne Williamson
Eric Swalwell
Kirsten Gillibrand
Andrew Yang
John Hickenlooper
The only question in my mind right now is -- Will anyone be watching? It's still over 6 months away from the beginning of the caucus/primary season. I know that those on a candidate's bandwagon will be watching to see how their candidate does, but those aren't the people that need to be watching. It's the people that have not decided who to support that are the important watchers.
I have not made up my mind yet, and am still considering five or six candidates. But I doubt I will watch the debate on either night. It's too early. I won't make up my ming for another three to five months, and frankly, I'm not very interested in what most of these candidates have to say. I will be a lot more interested in the third debate in September -- when a lot of the wannabes are excluded and we can see the real candidates debate each other.
I know that the lesser supported candidates are hoping to have a breakout night in the debate. That's going to be difficult with nine other candidates on the stage. Each candidate will be lucky to get 10 minutes of face time.
What do you guys think? Is it too early? Will you be watching?
