DNC Ditches Drastic Debate Rules, Opening Door for Billionaire Bloomberg

With up to two dozen Democrats duking it out for the party’s 2020 nomination, this electoral cycle has been one of the strangest in recent memory.

The reason for the glut of candidates is likely traced back to the internal warring between the two factions of the Democratic Party:  The centrists and the radical leftists.  This in-house incivility has torn asunder the preconceived notions of the primary season.  Put simply, the Democrats are cannibalizing one another while Trump looks on and laughs from the Oval Office.

With this tumult has come a number of drastic adjustments from within the DNC.  The most notable changes came from the debate arena, where the sheer volume of candidates looking to participate has forced the party to enact strict qualifiers in order to artificially whittle the field.

Now, with less than a year until the election, and only 6 months until the nomination of whomever, the Dems are again turning the figurative knobs.  and it appears as though this will be to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg‘s benefit.

Candidates will need to earn at least 10 percent in four polls released from Jan. 15 to Feb. 18, or 12 percent in two polls conducted in Nevada or South Carolina, in order to participate in the Feb. 19 debate in Las Vegas. Any candidate who earns at least one delegate to the national convention in either the Iowa caucuses or New Hampshire primary will also qualify for the Nevada debate.

The new criteria eliminate the individual-donor threshold, which was used for the first eight debates, including next week’s debate in New Hampshire. Bloomberg, the self-funding billionaire, has refused to take donations from other individuals, which has thus far precluded his participation in any of the debates since he joined the race late last year.

Bloomberg’s self-made wealth is his angle in the race, believing that he’ll be able to snatch away voters who like Donald Trump for his business acumen but despise his personal behavior.