It looks as if independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) will not qualify for election. first presidential debate on June 27.
The independent candidate is determined to debate his Democratic and Republican rivals in Atlanta on June 27. But he is running out of time to match the poll numbers and delegate counts that Biden and Trump have already surpassed before Thursday’s midnight deadline.
Failure to meet the eligibility criteria would be a major first blow to a third-party candidate fighting for survival in the race to maintain political prominence in 2024.
“While not impossible in the Kennedy case, it is less likely that candidates other than Biden and Trump will meet these requirements,” CNN wrote in a memo over the weekend outlining the logistics surrounding opening remarks and commercial breaks.
This would be a blow to Kennedy’s rather hopeless campaign.
Presidential debates have always had the potential to be game-changing, even if they don’t always pan out. Two instances when that actually happened, however, stand out in memory, both of them during Ronald Reagan’s two presidential campaigns. The first was during the debate with President Jimmy Carter, when Reagan seized control of the conversation when he turned to Carter and said, “See, there you go again,” and then began to deconstruct the president’s argument. The second was the notable demonstration of Reagan’s much-vaunted sense of humor when, during the 1984 campaign, a Baltimore Sun correspondent asked him if he was the oldest president in U.S. history. Reagan’s answer was classic, and it was in that moment, when even Walter Mondale burst into laughter at Reagan’s answer, that he secured his historic landslide victory in 49 states.
The subsequent quote from Cicero (or Seneca) was just the icing on the cake.
Admittedly, such moments don’t always occur on the debate stage. But the potential is there, and if a candidate doesn’t show up, he has no chance at all.
The conditions that candidates must fulfill to participate in the debate are not basic for an independent:
CNN has not budged on its terms. Candidates still need to get at least 15 percent of the vote in four polls and have a chance in enough state elections to get 270 delegates to attend the forum with moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.
All candidates must meet the same requirements.
See also: RFK Jr.’s reaction to Trump’s conviction? “You can’t save democracy by destroying it first”
Let the games begin: The rules for the upcoming Trump-Biden debate on CNN have been set
A Kennedy supporter commented on the alternatives open to the candidate if the Debate does not include him.
With less than a full day before the noon deadline, Kennedy’s options are confined. Some figures willing to consider parts of his unconventional candidacy say he should make the most of his time off the stage to showcase his position as an outsider.
“I certainly think he should do that,” said Cenk Uygur, a left-leaning media star who has met with Kennedy privately and recently hosted him on his program “The Young Turks.”
“It’s cheating if they don’t let him into the debates when he scored in double digits. What else does someone have to do to qualify?” Uygur said.
Of course, this is neither fraud nor borderline cases or anything else, as long as all candidates have to meet the same criteria. The organisers of the debates have to walk a tightrope; the criteria must not be so strict that one or both candidates from the major parties are excluded (as much as some in the established media would like that), nor must they be so loose that everyone Gag candidate, peddler, Subscribe to And Gandy dancer On the stage.
It seems extremely unlikely that RFK Jr. will even participate in the debate at this point, and this could well mean the end of his campaign, even if he continues his efforts until Election Day.
