Trailing candidates angry over new Democratic debate rules

Frustration over how the Democratic National Committee is managing the upcoming presidential debates is bursting into the open. Several longshot candidates say the party is stacking the process against them.

Most of the two dozen declared candidates will be able to participate in the first debate of the 2020 campaign next month. But those who are struggling to gain traction are alarmed by new rules the party announced this week for later debates that are sure to cull the field.

It's precisely the dynamic DNC Chairman Tom Perez hoped to avoid when he began crafting the rules governing the nomination process in the aftermath of the 2016 election. He sought to avoid giving any campaign room to argue that the national party unduly influenced the nomination outcome.