RFK Jr.'s debate squeeze
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🪟 The window for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to qualify for the first presidential debate on June 27 is closing rapidly, Axios' Erin Doherty writes.
- CNN, host of the first debate, reported Saturday that "though not impossible," it's unlikely any candidate other than President Biden and former President Trump will qualify.
- That's what the Biden and Trump campaigns want: a 1-on-1 showdown.
🗳️ CNN said Kennedy is officially on the ballot in states that account for just 89 electoral votes, well short of the debate's requirement that participants be on the ballot in enough states to give them a chance of winning the 270 electoral votes needed to be elected president.
- 📈 The network also is requiring candidates to have at least 15% support in four national polls. It said Kennedy has hit that mark in three polls, so is one short.
The debate, moderated by CNN's Jake Tapper and Dana Bash in Atlanta, will be the first in more than three decades that won't be managed by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.
- On Saturday, CNN unveiled rules that aim to rein in the interruptions that made that 2020 Biden-Trump debate a chaotic mess.
- 📺 The 90-minute clash will have two commercial breaks. Campaign staffers won't be allowed to interact with their candidate during the breaks, CNN said.
- 🎤 A candidate's microphone will be muted when it's not his turn to speak.
- That could hinder Trump, who tries to rattle opponents with interruptions — though Biden's most memorable line from their 2020 debate was when he responded to Trump by saying, "Will you shut up, man?"
- 🪙 The candidates' podium positions on stage will be determined by a coin flip.
- Moderators "will use all tools at their disposal to enforce timing and ensure a civilized discussion," CNN said.
Kennedy's campaign is scrambling to get on states' ballots. He has railed against Biden and Trump for "colluding" to keep him out.
- 📆 The deadlines for independent candidates to collect verified signatures and meet other requirements to get on ballots vary from state to state. Most are between now and the first week of September.
✍️ As of Friday, Kennedy's campaign claimed to have enough signatures for ballot access in states totaling 292 electoral votes.
- But in several states the campaign's signatures📢 haven't been verified — and it's unclear when they might be.
