Democratic debate lottery to be held at NBC’s 30 Rock
A lottery to determine where candidates are placed on stage in the first Democratic presidential debate will take place Friday morning at NBC’s headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
{mosads}Democratic National Committee (DNC) staffers told representatives from the presidential campaigns of the plan to hold the lottery at NBC during a logistics call last week, according to three sources with knowledge of the call. The campaigns have been invited to send representatives to witness the drawing.
Results will be announced right after the drawing is held.
Spokespeople at the DNC and NBC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Candidates and their campaigns have until Wednesday to qualify for the debates, either by showing at least 1 percent support in three qualifying polls or by attracting 65,000 individual donors, with at least 200 of those donors coming from 20 different states.
At least 14 candidates have met both the polling and donor criteria, guaranteeing them one of the 20 spots on the debate stage. Six other candidates have met the polling threshold, without having reached the donor threshold.
Four candidates — Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D), Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Miramar, Fla., Mayor Wayne Messam and former Sen. Mike Gravel (D-Alaska) — have not yet met either threshold.
Those who qualify will be divided between two debates scheduled for June 26 and 27 in Miami. Candidates with the highest polling averages will be split between the two nights along with candidates with lower polling averages to avoid the appearance of a kid’s table debate
The debates will air on NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo.
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