“If we change our guidelines at the request of one candidate who has made climate change their campaign’s signature issue, how do we say no to the numerous other requests we’ve had?” Perez wrote in a blog post at the time. “How do we say no to other candidates in the race who may request debates focused on an issue they’ve made central to their own campaigns?”
Tina Podlodowski, the main sponsor of the original climate debate resolution and the chair of the Washington State Democratic Party pointed out that the DNC leadership had changed the debate rules more than once already.
(MORE: ABC News announces details for 3rd Democratic primary debate)
“Look no further than the escalating requirements to qualify for the debates themselves,” she said. “We are not asking for a single issue debate — we are asking the DNC to recognize the urgency of this crisis and how it touches every issue that motivates the young people and union workers we must turn out to win in 2020.”
Indeed, the party’s criteria for how candidates qualify for the debates was another major sticking point over three days of meetings at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square hotel.
Twelve presidential candidates addressed party members and insiders on Friday, while Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Massachusetts, used his speaking slot to drop out of the presidential race.
(MORE: ABC News announces details for 3rd Democratic primary debate)
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado, took aim at the party’s rules for debate qualification ahead of the third primary debate in Houston, which Bennet has not yet met.
“The DNC’s process is stifling debate at a time when we need it most,” he said, to some of the loudest cheers of the morning from party members. “We’re rewarding celebrity candidates with millions of Twitter followers, billionaires who buy their way onto the debate stage, and candidates who have been running for president for years.”
The DNC required that candidates have at least 130,000 individual donors or reach two percent in four national or early state polls certified by the party.
(MORE: Tulsi Gabbard’s campaign wants the DNC to change debate qualifying poll requirements)
While the summer meeting represented a unique opportunity for candidates to glad-hand party officials from across the country, the conference is not the same power center it once was.
After Sanders and his supporters accused party insiders of undermining his support in the primaries in 2016, the party diluted the influence of the party’s superdelegates in the nominating process, preventing them from voting in the first round of ballots at next year’s convention in Milwaukee.
With the influence of party insiders diminished, some of the candidates, including former Vice President Joe Biden, skipped the event altogether. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, who is on the verge of missing the cut for the next debate, did not attend the summer meeting either, but called on the DNC to change its qualifying rules.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
