The winnowing to white of the Democratic candidates

With the deadline to qualify days away, four white men and two white women have qualified so far, including former vice president Joe Biden, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, billionaire Tom Steyer, and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.). Entrepreneur Andrew Yang and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii), who are both nonwhite candidates, each need one more good poll to qualify, whereas Booker, who is black, and former housing secretary Julián Castro haven’t hit 4 percent in any of the required polls. Former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, who is black, entered the race Nov. 14 and also does not have any qualifying polls.

[...]

To Booker, part of the problem is that this cycle’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee’s qualifying rules are “preferencing millionaires and billionaires.” To Castro, the news media’s narrative on “electability” has also played a role — an issue he cited in part for both Harris’s downfall and the difficulties facing nonwhite candidates vying for a spot on the debate stage.

  WaPo

All I can say is, it's a damn shame black Americans are putting their eggs in Joe Biden's basket. I hope they're not disappointed. I heard a pundit say that he's been talking to lots of people who didn't even know who Kamala Harris is, and she's now dropped out, so I wonder if people are even watching the debates.

Harris had qualified for the debate but cited a lack of funds as the main reason for her decision to bow out. In recent weeks, several news stories described internal turmoil and tense disagreements among staffers in her campaign.

[...]

The [DNC debate] rules also require candidates to score in four approved polls over 4 percent, or two early-state polls over 6 percent, and to have 200,000 unique donors plus a minimum of 800 unique donors in at least 20 states.

[...]

“The media’s flawed formula for ‘electability’ has pushed aside women and candidates of color,” [Julián Castro] said. “Our party’s diversity is our strength, and it’s a shame that we’re headed for a December debate without a single person of color.”

[...]

Like Booker, Castro, in his fundraising video, also criticized wealthier candidates who “basically buy their way onto this debate stage.”

[...]

“Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand — two women senators who, together, won more than 11.5 million votes in their last elections — have been forced out of this race, while billionaires Tom Steyer and Mike Bloomberg have been allowed to buy their way in,” [Candidaate Elizabeth] Warren wrote. “Running for president shouldn’t be a passion project for bored billionaires."

[...]

But some Republicans mocked Democrats’ concern that the field of candidates on the debate stage may be all white. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) made a quip on Twitter that critics called racist. Linking to a tweet listing the all-white lineup for the debate, Cheney wrote: “You forgot Pocahontas.” Using a favorite Trump nickname, Cheney was referring to Warren.

As nasty as her old man.

Castro’s criticism stems from debate within the Democratic Party about which candidate is most equipped to corral support from a multiracial coalition of voters, as President Barack Obama did, while having the best chance at defeating President Trump. As The Post’s Philip Bump reported in a Tuesday analysis, 77 percent of black voters viewed Biden, Warren or Sanders as the most capable of beating Trump, according to a November Post-ABC News poll.

And, coincidentally, those are the three with the largest name recognition. I wish those 77 percent would switch their allegiance to either Warren or Sanders.

I also think that presidential candidates should be publicly funded and given equal time on all major television channels, and that the debates should be wrested back from the DNC & RNC and returned to the League of Women Voters.

Listen to candidate Corey Booker on Pod Save America (at the 69:45 mark).

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.