Hillary Clinton appears with Bernie Sanders at a rally in July in Portsmouth, N.H. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)Bernie Sanders, the runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination, said Sunday that the threshold should probably be lower for third-party candidates such as Libertarian Gary Johnson to take part in the fall debates. [Sanders pledges to support Clinton]Johnson, a former governor of New Mexico, has reached double digits in some national polls but does not appear likely to clear the bar of 15 percent set as a participation requirement by the Commission on Presidential Debates. The commission also requires candidates to be on ballots in enough states to have a mathematical chance of winning the presidency. During his “Meet the Press” appearance, Sanders did not suggest a different polling figure to qualify for the general-election debates but said it “probably should be lower” than 15 percent. Some Democratic allies of Clinton have suggested that those steps should be taken now.

Source: Washington Post September 04, 2016 16:07 UTC