© Stefani ReynoldsTulsi Gabbard
"I've ruled that out," Gabbard said on CNN when asked about a possible third-party campaign. "I'm going to continue to focus on moving our campaign forward, continuing this grass-roots campaign, continuing to deliver our message to the American people."
Neera Tanden, president of the left-leaning Center for American Progress, predicted in a July tweet that Gabbard would run as a Green Party candidate "to help Trump win."
David Rothkopf, who served in the Commerce Department during the Clinton administration and later became CEO and editor of the FP Group, responded to Tanden's tweet by saying, "She is 100% right on this."
Gabbard is one of 10 Democrats seeking the party's nomination who failed to qualify for the third debate round, slated for Sept. 12 in Houston.
She reached the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) requirement of garnering 130,000 unique donors, with more than 400 in each of at least 20 states. But she failed to meet the second requirement: having at last 2 percent support in four DNC-approved polls.
Candidates who fell short for the September event are still eligible to qualify for the October debate, which will have the same participation criteria.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) dropped out of the race just hours before Wednesday's qualification deadline after she failed to make much headway in the crowded field of White House hopefuls.
Gabbard's campaign knocked the DNC's polling criteria last week, noting the Democrat from Hawaii has surpassed 2 percent support in 26 national and early state polls, only two of which were on the DNC-certified list.
"The Gabbard campaign is calling on the DNC to hold true to their promise and make adjustments to the process now to ensure transparency and fairness," the campaign said Friday. "Crucial decisions on debate qualifications that impact the right of the American people to have the opportunity to participate fully in the Democratic process should not be made in secret by party bosses."
Gabbard doubled down on her criticism during a Wednesday night interview on Fox News with host Tucker Carlson, arguing the DNC's "whole process really lacks transparency."
"People deserve having that transparency, because, ultimately, it's the people who will decide who our Democratic nominee will be and ultimately who our next president, commander in chief, will be," Gabbard said. "And when you see that lack of transparency, it creates, you know, a lack of faith and trust in the process."
It's possible that Sanders could have gone far, very far, with the Greens or on his own, but he proved to be the sheepdog some saw him as in the first place. It really is 'The Dem party, where progressive movements go to die.' There's a very strong belief among both the candidates and the voters, encouraged by the major parties that one cannot achieve the Presidency outside one of the conjoined-twin major parties. The media promotes the allied belief that 'lesser-evil voting' is the only way forward (except we never go forward).
Tulsi obviously believes the above, too. Even if she calculates that 'the time is not right' for a more independent path, can the country wait another four years and then another four years, etc.?
Toilets flush slowly, fast, or spill over. I believe this is the future of this country if it stays on the current track of militaristic hegemony with gross civil and economic injustice. The noxious waste of greed, ignorance, hate, and violence has been accumulating for a long time now and will have to go be flushed or overflow somewhere.
Campaign rhetoric reminds us of what's wrong but does nothing about it except temporarily raise some awareness and a little hope. The cycle is obvious as is the ultimate sewage problem.