Lose the tinfoil hat. You should need more much more than that to take part in the party’s debate. Just because you don’t like that not anyone can just get themselves on the stage doesn’t mean its rigged.

Gee I dunno, maybe the party whose nomination (and the advantages that come with it) the candidates are vying for.

I don’t think three will go to the convention.  Two might, but the field will be down to those two prior IF it even comes to that, and because of the new rules superdelegates may not even come into play this time.

Umm...when I say raise the bar I mean raise the bar for everyone. Delaney shouldn’t have been up there along with about another 6 or 8 either.

She has less than 130,000 individual donors.  That’s next to nothing in the grand scheme of things.  The DNC didn’t have to set the bar so low.

Williamson has less than 130,ooo individual suppoters, and Gravel has less than 65,000. You could have the most democratized primary process in history, and include them in every poll, and have a publicly funded primary, and they still wouldn’t have a snowballs chance in hell of getting the nom.

So what? If Oprah ran she’d have a relatively large base of support without help from the DNC because she has fans. Riding the wave of a cult of personality doesn’t make you qualified for the job.

CNN should hire Jim Ross for debate coverage if they do that.

There hasn’t been a contested convention since 1952. Its WAY to early to think a contested convention is remotely likely. But even if it was, so what?  You have to pick a candidate somehow, and the DNC went a long way towards better democratizing the process.

And allowing someone who blames the current state of the country on “dark psychic forces” is?

A 5 year old could get done what Trump has gotten done for the GOP.  That doesn’t make him anywhere near qualified to hold office.

Me: The bar should be raised for candidates to get on the debate stage to keep hacks with no qualifications to hold office from giving the GOP straw-men so they can avoid defending their positions.

If you want to beat Trump...vote for the democratic nominee even if its not the person you voted for in the primary.

And super delegates would still be barred from voting on the first ballot.

Again, how does not gathering enough support to move on to the next round disenfranchise anyone?  That’s like saying everyone who voted for Clinton was disenfranchised because Trump was elected.

Says the guy that just created 5 new threads? If your eyes are bleeding that badly maybe you should take a break from defending a candidate with who has basically the same qualifications as Trump to be POTUS.

Because she built a base of support that was higher than the others. Those changes by the DNC Unity and Reform Commission were good.

The problem is when you lower the bar you dilute the debates so far they are almost meaningless outside of candidates looking to turn a stiff jab into a week of fundraising. Plus when you let someone like Williamson on the stage with serious candidates her stupidity permeates into everything. Hell, Brooks had an NYT…

I think if we are going to stick with the wrastling metaphor she’s ahead of the jobbers (Bennett, Bullock, Steyer, Hickenlooper, De Blasio). She’s more like an heel manager...she’s full of shit, but talk is about all she has.

Obviously, but the DNC should have set the bar higher.