Lawrence Lessig failed to get into the Democratic presidential debates. Lessig drops out of presidential race

Harvard University professor Lawrence Lessig abandoned his Democratic presidential run on Monday, capping a candidacy that failed to get any real traction at all.

Lessig, an outspoken academic who had been a vocal proponent of campaign finance reform, said he was dropping his bid for the White House in a YouTube video.


The Harvard academic didn't raise a notable amount of money and failed even to get into the Democratic presidential debates. He acknowledged as much in his announcement.

"Now from the start it was clear that getting into the Democratic debates was THE essential step in this campaign," Lessig said. "I may be known in tiny corners of the tubes of the internets, but I am not well-known to the American public generally."

In order to raise the discussion of campaign finance reform in the 2016 election, getting into those debates was key, Lessig acknowledged.

"But last week, we learned that the Democratic party has changed its rules for inclusion in the debate," Lessig said. "But unless we can time travel, there is no way that I can qualify."

Watch Lessig's video here.

