Gabbard urges inclusion in next Democrat candidate debate

Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, speaks during the McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club Dinner Feb. 8 in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
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She wants the last men standing to move over.

Long-shot presidential primary contender Rep. Tulsi Gabbard lashed out at the Democratic National Committee for changing qualification guidelines that keeps her from participating in an upcoming Arizona debate.

The March 15 Democratic primary debate in Phoenix will feature just former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., since new qualification guidelines demand a candidate obtained at least 20% of the delegates awarded so far in order to take the debate stage.

The Hawaii congresswoman, the last woman still seeking the nomination, has notched just two delegates.

In a tweet late Friday, Gabbard took her indignation straight to the top of the presidential primary pile.

“I’m sure you would agree that our Democratic nominee should be a person who will stand up for what is right. So I ask that you have the courage to do that now in the face of the DNC’s effort to keep me from participating in the debates,” she said to Biden and Sanders, adding the hashtag #LetTulsiDebate.

“To keep me off the stage, the DNC again arbitrarily changed the debate qualifications. Previously they changed the qualifications in the OPPOSITE direction so Bloomberg could debate. I ask that you stand w/ me against the DNC’s transparent effort to exclude me from the debates,” she added, referring to the New York’s former mayor, Mike Bloomberg.

Democratic primary dropout Andrew Yang offered his own zinger about the DNC process.

“Someone asked me what the qualifications for the next debate would be. I responded ‘whatever Tulsi has plus one,” he tweeted.