How Tom Steyer qualified for the debate

Total TV ad spend by 2020 candidates, through this week:

Bloomberg: $153.1 million
Steyer: $116.5 million
Sanders: $11.7 million
Buttigieg: $11.4 million
Yang: $7.3 million
Warren: $3.7 million
Biden: $3 million
Klobuchar: $2.9 million
Bennet: $1.1 million
Gabbard: $1.1 million

— David Wright (@DavidWright_CNN) January 9, 2020

Since you clicked, I bet you’re wondering how Tom Steyer qualifyed for the next debate……….lucky for you it’s a pretty simple explanation.

Reason 1. Tom Steyer is spending $100 million dollars more than any other (non-billionaire) candidate on television ads.

Reason 2. He is the only non-Bloomberg candidate on air in Nevada & South Carolina (the states where he got the qualifying polls). He spent $8.7 Million in Nevada , & he has spent over $8 million in South Carolina, good for 85% of all spending there.

*Mandatory DNC Bashing Section*

So while Steyer buys his way onto the stage, other candidates like Andrew Yang, Tulsi Gabbard or even Cory Booker will not be on the stage. Voting starts in less than a month, so why not let the voters decide who can continue their campaign, DNC? Even if you just said anyone not meeting your official qualifications will go to a JV debate, best case you get positive exposure for some other candidates that will be running non-presidential campaigns in the near future, worst case you rob people like John Delaney, Michael Bennet, or even Cory Booker the excuse their candidacy didn’t take off due to lack of exposure.