New Hampshire DNC Debate Announced, Meet-And-Greets: FITN 2020

CONCORD, NH — In about two months, voters in the Granite State will cast ballots in the New Hampshire first-in-the-nation primary. According to polls, there are a lot of undecided voters which is why candidates and their surrogates are continuing to make the rounds to events around the state. One has even moved here (Paging Buddy Roemer, 2012). The Democratic National Committee has also announced the dates and media affiliates for the next four debates – all (finally) being organized in the early voting states. And one Granite State newspaper experiments with ranked-choice voting and the results might surprise you.

Here's the latest New Hampshire Patch FITN 2020 Roundup.

Four Early State Debates

The DNC announced Thursday that four more debates between Democrats have been scheduled in the early voting states for January and February. Two of the debates will be held before the New Hampshire primary.

On Jan. 14, 2020, The Des Moines Register and CNN will host a debate at Drake University. This will be the seventh debate of the cycle and the first in an early voting state. On Feb. 7, four days before the primary, ABC, WMUR-TV, and Apple News will host a debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester.

Two other debates follow: Feb. 19 in Nevada, hosted by NBC News, MSNBC, and the Nevada Independent, and Feb. 25 in South Carolina, hosted by CBS News, the Congressional Black Caucus, and Twitter. Criteria for debate inclusion in the next four debates will be released at a later date.

Before those four debates though, there will be one other debate on Dec. 19 in Los Angeles, California, hosted by PBS and Politico. So far, at least seven candidates have qualified for this, the sixth debate for the 2020 presidential contest: Former Vice President Joe Biden, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, business man Tom Steyer, and business man Andrew Yang.

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii continues her tussle with the DNC. She believes she is qualified to participate in the debate, having met the requirements, but she has not officially met the requirements according to the DNC (due to its haphazard selection of which polls to accept). Instead, she will campaign in New Hampshire and South Carolina. Former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg is also close to qualifying but hasn't yet.

Debate viewership and streaming has been in a nosedive from 24.3 million to 27.1 million during the first two debates in June to just shy of 8 million during a debate three weeks. However, with so many undecided voters (and voters changing their minds, too, as indicated by the seesaw leads in New Hampshire and Iowa, according to the Real Clear Politics averages), there are bound to be more viewers during the next three debates.

"We're thrilled to be chosen by the DNC to host a Democratic debate here in Manchester," noted Ray Buckley, the chairman of the state party. "This debate will provide an important opportunity for voters to hear about the Democratic candidates' plans to help the Granite State – just days before New Hampshire heads to the polls."

Ranked-Choice Voting Experiment

Hats off to Concord Monitor Reporter David Brooks, who has been writing news in the state for many years and also has a cool side project call Granite Geek: Recently, he was curious about ranked-choice voting – the process by which a voter makes a top choice selection and then gives a survey opinion on all the other candidates running. The ballots are then tabulated based on the most No. 1 votes, second choices, third, etc.

The experiment yielded 385 total votes, submitted by mail after being cut out from the newspaper, (to keep folks from stuffing ballot boxes) and the results of both the top vote-getter and the ranked-choice were the same: Buttigieg won both receiving 102 No. 1 votes and an overall ranking of 224 votes with Warren coming in second with 142 and Klobuchar placing third with 104.

The only real change was with Warren, Brooks noted, who was in fourth place based on No. 1 votes but boosted to a second place overall due to collecting so many second-choice votes, mainly on Sanders' No. 1 ballots.

While not used in many political processes, ranked-choice voting has been around for decades.

The city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been using the process to elect its city councilors for nearly 80 years (the top ranked choice is named mayor). New York City recently adopted it for future elections.

Most recently, the process made headlines after Maine approved it for its elections in 2018 and the top vote-getter, U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-Maine, lost his seat based on his opponent, Democrat Jared Golen, receiving more second choice votes in a four-way race with two independents also on the ballot. Poliquin called the process "the biggest voter rip-off in Maine history" and sued attempting to overturn the results. However, the state will be using it for its presidential primary in 2020.

Should New Hampshire? Leave a note in the comment section.

Surrogates Flood The State

U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-MA, a member of "The Squad," will be in Manchester to speak on behalf of Warren at the New Hampshire Young Democrats Granite Slate Awards Friday. On Saturday, U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Ma, will be at events in Berlin, Conway, and Littleton while Maura Healey, the AG in the Bay State, will be in Hampton and Manchester Sunday. U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, D-MA, will be in Derry Sunday. Former 2016 gubernatorial candidate Molly Kelly will be campaigning with Warren's husband, Bruce Mann, in Concord and Laconia Saturday. The candidate held town halls around the state last weekend.

Another member of "The Squad," U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-MN, who is backing Sanders, will also be at the event. Michael Graham of NH Journal has commentary condemning the visit by Omar, due to her anti-Semitic comments.

Steyer is also sending a surrogate to the event: Bianca Chardei, an entertainer who started the LoveYourself self-esteem org a little more than a decade ago.

Khizr Khan, the Gold Star father, has endorsed Biden and will be in the state assisting the campaign Sunday, canvassing in Hollis, meeting with the Islamic Society of New Hampshire in Manchester, meeting with voters in Concord, Hampton, Dover, and military families in Manchester on Monday.

Marianne Williamson will be at Nashua Community College on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. speaking about the economy as part of a roundtable series sponsored by the Community College System of New Hampshire, Goldman Sachs, and the New Hampshire Union Leader. Former U.S. Rep. John Delaney, D-MD, attended the roundtable on Tuesday at Manchester Community College.

Klobuchar's has a new ad airing in the state, BTW:

Sanders also received the endorsement of both the Manchester Area Local #230 and the New Hampshire Postal Workers Union this week.

Biden, who was in the state last weekend, received the endorsement of 2004 New Hampshire primary winner, former U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-MA. His wife, Dr. Jill Biden, was also in the state earlier this week.

GOP Primary Updates

Zoltan Istvan, who recently signed up for ballot access in New Hampshire, has also obtained ballot access in California and Colorado, according to the campaign. Last weekend, he spoke to the Merrimack Valley Porcupines about his campaign.

Can Tulsi Vote In NH?

Since she has "moved" to Goffstown, temporarily, to campaign in the early primary and caucus states instead of flying around from Hawaii, should Gabbard be able to vote in the New Hampshire primary? How about all of the campaign workers? Graham at NH Journal asks the question in this column and, again, tackling the issue of why New Hampshire allows non-residents to vote when nearly every other state in the nation requires residency to vote in its elections.

Fear Of Hillary Jumping In? Well …

A number of media outlets have been speculating that 2016 Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton is making a play to jump into the presidential race and a recent Harvard-Harris poll that included her in a national poll, as an experiment, isn't helping matters (she came in first, when added, with 21 percent). It's a pretty crazy thought because, at this point, so many state ballot filing deadlines have expired. And many coming up deadlines require thousands of signatures – including delegate rich California, which requires 26,500 qualifying signatures by tomorrow.

In other words, it's too late, at this point, for any other candidates to jump in and gain traction. Maybe if there is a brokered convention – but that is something that hasn't occurred in nearly seven decades.

Previous #FITN2020 Coverage

• New Hampshire's 2020 Primary: Sleepier Than Elections Of The Past
• New Hampshire Voting Law On Trial, Just Weeks Before Primary
• Warren’s ‘Boots’ Are Made For Running For President
• NH Presidential Primary Date Set – With A History Lesson, Too
• Presidential Primary Candidates Return To Press Flesh: FITN 2020
• Buttigieg Surges Ahead Of Warren, Biden In Latest N.H. Poll
• Got Those New Hampshire Primary Blues Again: Distant Dome
• 50 Hopefuls File For New Hampshire's First-In-The-Nation Primary
• Deval Patrick: 'I'm Excited. I'm Humbled. I'm Fired Up'
• In Concord, Warren Says Trump Operates Outside The Law
• Bill Weld Files To Challenge Trump In New Hampshire Primary
• Biden Makes it Official in Concord, Says He Will Take on the NRA
• Mike Pence To File President Trump's Paperwork For N.H. Primary
• Peter Grote Drove From Franconia To Back Klobuchar Filing In Concord
• 99 Days Until NH's Primary And Who's Counting
• Elizabeth Warren's Manchester, N.H. Campaign HQ Broken Into
• Primary Election Chief Back In Spotlight After Near-Ouster
• With A Special Hug And Hundreds Of Friends, Mayor Pete Files For The NH Primary
• Yoga With Marianne, 50+ Educators For Biden: FITN 2020 Roundup
• Watch: Tulsi Talks Up Presidential Campaign In Bow
• Trump Critics Struggle To Raise Money For Primary Challenge
• O'Rourke Bets On New Approach To Revive Flagging Campaign
• Joe Biden In Lead, But Does Campaign Have Enthusiasm To Keep It?
• In New Hampshire, 2020 Dems Urge Voters To Not Play It Safe
• New Hampshire Primary Candidates Descend On Convention: FITN 2020
• Buttigieg, Klobuchar Are In New Hampshire This Weekend: FITN 2020
• President Trump Called Woburn Supporter He Fat-Shamed At NH Rally
• Trump's New Hampshire Struggle: Voters Feeling 'Trumpgret'
• Trump To NH Voters: 'You Have To Vote For Me'
• President Trump Rallies With Thousands Of Supporters In NH: Watch

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