Many of the Democrat party elite do not want Bernie Sanders as their presidential candidate. He is too far left of the average voter. The millennial generation loves him, but they are not known for their voter turnout. A Bernie Sanders presidential campaign might easily end up the way the George McGovern campaign ended. The establishment Democrats want to protect their party. However, Bernie is gaining in the polls and may win the first three primary states. So how do the people who formerly congregated in smoke-filled rooms to choose candidates deal with this problem? Easy–rig the system.<\/p>\n
The New York Post<\/a> reported yesterday that the Democratic National Committee has dropped the fundraising requirements<\/a> that had kept Mike Bloomberg out of the presidential debates.<\/p>\n The article reports:<\/p>\n Until now, making the debates required some minimal success both in the polls and in raising lots of donations from several states \u2014 225,000 donors, with at least 1,000 from 20 different states, for the Feb. 7 debate.<\/strong><\/p>\n But Bloomy refuses to spend anyone\u2019s money but his own: \u201cI\u2019ve never accepted a nickel from anyone,\u201d as he wrote in a CNN op-ed<\/a>, so \u201cI\u2019ve always been independent of the special interests.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n He\u2019s also not even trying to win the earliest primary states<\/a> \u2014 but has still soared to fourth place<\/a> in national polls of Democrats\u2019 2020 contest. So he should clearly be onstage in the debates. It\u2019s only fair for him, his rivals and <\/em>the voters \u2014 who deserve to see all the top contenders face off against each other.<\/strong><\/p>\n Then again, spending some of his own $60 billion has let him lap the field when it comes to advertising–he’s shelled out an unprecendented $278 million on ads since he entered the race in November, including $11 million for a 60-second Super Bowl spot.<\/a><\/p>\n His investment has paid off–he has moved into fourth place.<\/p>\n The article concludes:<\/p>\n We\u2019ve been dubious about the DNC\u2019s rules from the start \u2014 the way gazillionaire Tom Steyer, a total vanity candidate, gamed his way into the debates was a dead giveaway of poor design, as were the unwieldy 10-candidates-at-a-time early face-offs.<\/strong><\/p>\n Some fix may <\/em>still be in: The new rules, starting with the Feb. 19 Las Vegas debate, require a candidate to either 1) pick up a pledged delegate in the first two contests or 2) reach at least 10% in four DNC-recognized polls, or 12% in two \u201cDNC-kosher\u201d early-state polls.<\/strong><\/p>\n That could limit the field to Biden, Bernie Sanders and Liz Warren \u2014 which would look like the DNC rigging the game for Biden.<\/strong><\/p>\n Stay tuned. I can’t imaging Bernie Sanders supporters putting up with having the nomination pulled out from under them twice, particularly if a brokered convention somehow winds up with Hillary Clinton as the candidate. This could be very interesting.<\/p>\n