The Democratic National Committee on Friday announced its criteria for the first debate to be held after voting begins in the 2020 presidential campaign, including a new pathway to the stage based off delegate pledges.As they have before, qualifiers will need to meet polling and grassroots funding thresholds to participate in the Feb. 7 debate in Manchester, New Hampshire. But new for next month is a pathway centered around delegates: Based off the results of the lead-off Iowa caucuses, any candidate awarded at least one pledged delegate to the Democratic National Convention, as calculated by the Democratic Party, will be able to participate.
Party officials are relying on the same polling and grassroots thresholds as for the January debate in Des Moines, Iowa: either receiving 5% in at least four national or early-state surveys approved by the party, or receiving 7% in two polls in early voting states. But for these calculations, only polls from New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina will be used, with the party saying it would rely on caucus results instead of polls to reflect a candidate's standing in Iowa.
Polls must be released from Dec. 13 to Feb. 6, the day before the debate.
In terms of fundraising, candidates must receive donations from at least 225,000 unique donors, with a minimum of 1,000 donors per state in at least 20 states.

All six onstage in Des Moines appear to have met the polling and grassroots thresholds for next month's debate. Businessman Andrew Yang, who failed to qualify for Des Moines, has met some but not all of next month's requirements.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/democrats-ann...225125887.html