DNC increases its qualification standards for next debate in January

LOS ANGELES >> One day after seven candidates took the stage for the most intimate debate of the Democratic presidential primary cycle so far, the Democratic National Committee increased the qualification standards for its next debate in January, making it likely that the field of candidates will be winnowed even further.

The announcement on Friday that candidates will need to receive at least 5% support in four qualifying polls or 7% in two early-state polls, in additional to amassing at least 225,000 individual donors, came despite intense public and private lobbying from Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and his allies to lower the barrier to participate in the party’s debates. That cause gained momentum in recent days after just one person of color, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, qualified to participate in Thursday’s debate in Los Angeles.

Five of the seven candidates who took part — former Vice President Joe Biden, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts — have already met the newly announced thresholds for the next debate, scheduled for Jan. 14 in Des Moines, Iowa. Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York, a billionaire who is self-funding his campaign, has also met the polling standard but will be thwarted by the donor requirement, unless he relaxes his opposition to accepting contributions from others and is able to attract hundreds of thousands of donations in less than a month.