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VOTING RECORD THAT HAS HUR GRANITE STATERS AND BETRAYED HER OWN CONSTITUENTS." >> IN THE RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE. TULSI GABBARD SAYS SHE MAY SKIP NEXT WEEK’S BIG DEBATE. SPEAKING ONE-ON-ONE WITH NEWSNINE, THE HAWAII CONGRESSWOMAN SAYS SHE BELIEVES THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE IS INAPPROPRIATELY TRYING TO NARROW THE FIELD OF CANDIDATES. WHILE SHE’S QUALIFIED FOR TH DEBATE NEXT WEEK IN OHIO, SHE SAYS SHE’S SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING SKIPPING IT TO PROTEST WHAT SH BELIEVES IS THE D-N-C’S ATTEMPT TO RIG THE PRIMARY. >> "AND THEY’RE DOING THIS THROUGH ARBITRARY POLLING METHODS AND SURVEYS AND REALLY COMMERCIALIZING THESE DEBATES THAT ARE CLEARLY MORE ABOUT ENTERTAINMENT AND PROFIT AND RATINGS THAN THEY ARE ABOU INFORMING AND EDUCATING VOTERS." >> GABBARD SAYS SHE’LL MAKE A DECISION IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS. TONIGHT SHE’S CAMPAIGNING IN

Advertisement Tulsi Gabbard may boycott next debate to protest DNC, ‘corporate media’ ‘rigging’ nomination process Hawaii congresswoman says she’ll focus on NH, other early states in voter-to-voter, retail campaigning

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Tulsi Gabbard said Thursday she knows that if she boycotts the next Democratic National Committee-sponsored presidential debate on Oct. 15, her absence may hurt her campaign just as it seems to be gaining momentum.>> Download the FREE WMUR appBut Gabbard said in an interview with the WMUR political team she’s willing to pay that price to take what she views as an important stand.She said it's true that debates provide for national exposure and an avenue for fundraising.“But my interest is really thinking through this and seeing how can I best serve our country and really make a positive impact on strengthening our democracy.”The Hawaii congresswoman released a scathing video early Thursday charging that the national party and the “corporate media” are “rigging the election,” just as they did in 2016 against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.This time, she said, the election is being rigged “against the American people in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.”During her third visit to New Hampshire in three weeks, Gabbard told WMUR: “There are some serious issues surrounding the reality that the DNC and their partners in the corporate media are essentially trying to hijack the election process, usurping the role that voters have in determining, especially in our early states, who their choices will be as a nominee."And they’re doing this through arbitrary polling methods and surveys and really commercializing these debates that are clearly more about ratings and profits than they are really about informing and educating voters,” she said.“I’m seriously considering boycotting this next debate on Oct. 15 to highlight this serious threat to our democracy.” Gabbard said she will make a decision in the next few days. The DNC has been escalating the threshold for participation in its debates since the first event was held in June -- laying out requirements based on national and early state polling and the number of unique individual donors each candidate must show from as many as 20 states.For next week’s fourth debate in Ohio, 12 candidates made the cut, including Gabbard, after scoring at least 2 percent support in at least four early state polls or national DNC-approved polls and showing 130,000 donors, with at least 400 unique donors from at least 20 states.For the fifth debate in November, the bar has been raised. To qualify, candidates will have to show 3 percent support in at least four early state or national polls or at least 5 percent support in two early state polls. They must also receive contributions from 165,000 donors, with 600 unique donors in at least 20 states.DNC Chairman Tom Perez has said the party is using “the most fair, transparent and inclusive process in the history of the Democratic primary.”But Gabbard has a much different view.She said voters in New Hampshire and Iowa have expressed frustration that choosing the nominee is, at first, their responsibility.For decades, New Hampshire and Iowa, and more recently South Carolina and Nevada, have been influential, indeed powerful – in winnowing the field of presidential candidates every four years.Gabbard said the DNC process “really takes that power away. When you’ve got the DNC in a position where they and their partners in the media that are running these debates say, ‘These are the people who are allowed to participate, all these other candidates are not,’ they block nonprofit organizations like the League of Women Voters, for example, who have traditionally run presidential debates, from holding debates.”She said that with commercial interruptions, even during lengthy debates, candidates are limited to “quick soundbites and this clickbait entertainment business, rather than something that is in the best interest of voters to give them all the information they need, not predetermining who they can choose from."“It’s really about keeping this power base within the DNC, rather than keeping the DNC completely out of it and actually just letting voters do what voters are supposed to do,” Gabbard said.Gabbard offered no specific solutions to the crowded debate stage and qualification process.“Find a way to make it work,” she said. “The DNC should not be the ones who are in control of our elections, saying they are the ones who gets to determine who will be heard and who doesn’t.”“Do it in such a way that you get more than a 30-second soundbite,” Gabbard said.She believes that by engaging in retail politics in New Hampshire and the other states, with frequent visits and numerous stops during each visit, she can offset the potential lack of exposure that would result from boycotting a debate or not making the cuts for future debates.“Debates or no debates, I have been and will continue to be focused on directly reaching out to voters, listening to them and answering their questions,” Gabbard said. “That’s the beauty of the process that we have here.”WMUR is seeking a response to Gabbard's criticism from the DNC. Making her ninth visit to New Hampshire since declaring her candidacy, and 12th overall, Gabbard spoke at a Coos County Democratic Committee event in Whitefield on Thursday night.On Friday, she will hold town hall events at 11 a.m. at the Northland Restaurant and Dairy Bar in Berlin and at 5 p.m. at Huddleston Hall on the Durham campus of the University of New Hampshire. On Saturday, Gabbard will attend a house party at 10 a.m. at 24 Fraiser Lane, New Boston; and a town hall at New England College in Henniker at 4:30 p.m.