WASHINGTON, D.C.: The Democratic National Committee has announced that 20 candidates have qualified for the party’s first presidential debates later this month.
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and US Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts were the only major candidates out of the two dozen Democratic hopefuls who failed to meet the polling or grassroots fundraising measures required to get a debate spot. Two lesser-known candidates, former Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska and Miramar, Florida, Mayor Wayne Messam, also missed the cutoff, announced Thursday.
US Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who recently had been on the bubble, both made the debate based on polling measures.
The campaign’s opening debates, set for June 26-27 in Miami, will offer a prime opportunity for many White House hopefuls to reshape a race defined in recent weeks by former Vice President Joe Biden’s domination of national and many early state polls.
An NBC News drawing Friday will divide the large field between the first and second debate night. Party officials have promised to weight the drawing with the intention of ensuring that top tier and lagging candidates are spread roughly evenly over the two nights.
Those assignments will determine the debate strategies for many campaigns. Candidates will have to decide whether to go after front-runners such as Biden, challenge others in the pack or stand out by remaining above the fray. They must also decide how much to focus on President Donald Trump.
Some candidates have criticized the debate-qualifying rules that the party chairman, Tom Perez, set this year. The polling and fundraising thresholds will remain the same for the July debates over two nights in Detroit .
Bullock’s campaign insists he has reached a party benchmark of a minimum 1 percent in at least three polls by approved organizations. But party officials say Bullock is wrongly counting a Washington Post-ABC poll from February.
He said Thursday that he was “certainly disappointed” by the DNC’s decision.
“But the greater point really is also that I’m the only one in the field that’s actually won in a Trump state, and we need to win back some of the places we’ve lost,” he said on MSNBC.
The polling and fundraising marks will double for the third and fourth debates in September and October. Candidates will have to meet both marks instead of one or the other. That means 2 percent in the approved polls and a donor list of at least 130,000 unique contributors.
Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who will appear in the first debate, questioned some of the rules during a campaign stop Thursday before the DNC announcement, but said candidates have little choice other than to meet them.
“Fighting with the DNC is a little like fighting with the weather,” he said. “You can rage against the storm, but you will not have great effect. I think the rules are the rules.”
Democratic Party debate lineup set at 20 candidates; de Blasio and Bennet in
Democratic Party debate lineup set at 20 candidates; de Blasio and Bennet in
- US Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who recently had been on the bubble, both made the debate based on polling measures
- The opening debates, June 26-27 in Miami, will offer an opportunity for many White House hopefuls to reshape a race defined in recent weeks by Joe Biden’s domination of early polls
New Zealand authorities working to identify landslide victims
- Police Superintendent Tim Anderson said it could take several days to locate all of the bodies
- The six missing people, presumed dead, included one foreign national, Mans Loke Bernhardsson from Sweden
SYDNEY: New Zealand authorities said on Saturday they were working to identify victims of a landslide that hit a busy campground on the country’s North Island, after human remains were found overnight.
Six people, including two teenagers, were presumed dead after heavy rains triggered Thursday’s landslide at Mount Maunganui on the island’s east coast, bringing down soil and rubble at the site in the city of Tauranga, crowded with families on summer holidays.
Rescue efforts have ceased and a recovery operation is under way, police said, adding that it was unlikely any of those missing were still alive. No signs of life have been detected from the rubble since voices were heard by first responders on Thursday, according to police.
Chief Coroner Anna Tutton said her office was now working to identify victims.
“I can’t say how long the identification process will take — but I give my absolute assurance that we will work very carefully,” Tutton said in a statement.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said it was “devastating to receive the news we have all been dreading.”
“To the families who have lost loved ones — every New Zealander is grieving with you,” Luxon posted on X.
The prime minister visited the site on Friday and met with families of the victims.
Thirty-five crew, assisted by heavy machinery, were removing debris on Saturday after a partial slip in a section of the search area on Friday evening, Fire and Emergency New Zealand said.
Heavy rain forecast for the area on Saturday could present further challenges, and the work crew might have to withdraw from the search area for their safety, Fire and Emergency official Megan Stiffler said in a statement.
The heavy rain this week unleashed another landslide in the neighboring suburb of Papamoa, killing two.
