Democrats Are Calling on DNC to Allow Bloomberg to Join Debates

(Bloomberg) -- Democrats concerned that presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is avoiding scrutiny by not participating in televised debates with other candidates are pushing the party to allow the billionaire on stage.

Bloomberg hasn’t been eligible for debates since joining the race Nov. 24 because he’s self-funding his campaign. The Democratic National Committee requires a certain level of donations from individuals to qualify for the debate stage. Bloomberg has spent $278 million of his own money so far in ads, an effort that has earned him fourth place in recent national polls.

But both Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a group allied with Elizabeth Warren, said Tuesday that Bloomberg’s absence means voters don’t get to evaluate how he answers direct questions and responds to challenges from other candidates.

“Imagine a world where he hypothetically buys 30% of the polls and is the front-runner,” Green said. “How would it ever make sense not to have him on the debate stage to get scrutiny and talk to voters?”

Green said he raised concerns about Bloomberg being excluded from the debates in a December DNC call. He proposed that the party add an exception for candidates who exceed some of the other criteria, such as doing very well in a number of recognized polls. A DNC spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, and neither did a spokesman for Warren.

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Klobuchar Tuesday told MSNBC she welcomed the former New York mayor to the stage.

“I’d be fine with him being on the debate stage because I think that instead of just putting your money out there, he’s actually got to be on the stage, and be able to go back and forth so that voters can evaluate him in that way,” Klobuchar said.

Politico first reported the PCCC’s outreach to the DNC. The Bloomberg campaign declined to comment on whether the campaign has also asked the DNC to change the rules, as Politico reported.

“Mike has been in public life for the past two decades and is aggressively campaigning in states across the country so that voters can hear directly from him about how he’ll get it done as president,” campaign spokeswoman Galia Slayen said in a statement.

Still, Green said that in the last debate in January, after which there was extensive media coverage about Warren and Bernie Sanders challenging each other, no one could question Bloomberg on his positions.

Bloomberg’s decision to self-finance his campaign has drawn criticism from rivals including Warren and Sanders, who rely on small donors. Warren said Bloomberg is “skipping the democracy part” of the campaign by not competing in the early nominating contests and that it’s wrong for billionaires to try to “buy” elections.

The former New York mayor has said he made his fortune building a business that allows him to spend money on the race and issues he cares about, and that his rivals had the same opportunity but are using money from contributors who “expect something from them.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Niquette in Columbus at mniquette@bloomberg.net;Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou in Washington at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Magan Crane

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