周三晚上是休斯顿第三次总统初选辩论的最后期限。到目前为止，只有10名候选人超过了门槛，自7月份上次辩论以来大幅下降。
那些还没有资格的人还有希望，但希望不大。其余11名不合格的民主党人必须在东部时间晚上11点59分之前满足民主党全国委员会的参与要求:13万名独一无二的捐助者和四项经批准的全国民调显示，候选人的投票率超过2%。
周三早上，昆尼皮亚克和今日美国/萨福克发布了两项新的全国民调，这两项民调都没有给任何新候选人必要的2%的资格。目前还不清楚是否还会有更多的电影上映。
对大多数候选人来说，这已经是板上钉钉的事了:他们不会参加下一场辩论。问题是，他们是利用这个机会优雅地退出并追求其他事情，比如参议院竞选，还是继续坚持并希望符合标准，以便及时获得10月辩论的资格。
对于我们这些计划在家观看比赛的人来说，如果排位赛仍然保持在10分钟，下一场辩论将是9月12日举行的一场只有一夜的比赛。如果只有一个候选人合格，辩论将会在两个晚上进行，每个阶段都有小得多的小组。
以下是目前合格的人员:
前副总统乔·拜登；参议员伯尼·桑德斯；参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦；卡马拉·哈里斯参议员；印第安纳州南本德市市长皮特·巴蒂吉格；参议员科里·布克；参议员艾米·克洛布查尔；前代表贝托·奥洛克；科技企业家杨安泽；和前住房和城市发展部长朱利安·卡斯特罗。
谁没有呢？
亿万富翁对冲基金者转变为活动家汤姆·施泰尔；代表图西·加巴德；柯尔斯顿·吉利布兰德参议员；参议员麦克·班尼；蒙大拿州州长史蒂夫·布洛克；蒂姆·瑞恩代表；前众议员约翰·德莱尼；纽约市长比尔·白思豪；唯灵论者玛丽安娜·威廉森；前众议员乔·塞斯塔克；佛罗里达州米拉马尔市市长韦恩·梅瑟姆。
民主党总统候选人美国参议员柯尔斯顿·吉利布兰德不太可能有资格参加下一轮辩论。
谁在附近？
汤姆·施泰尔已经达到了捐献者的门槛，只需在另一次全国民意测验中超过2%就可以获得资格。
图西·加巴德和玛丽安娜·威廉森都达到了筹款要求，但需要分别在另外两次和三次投票中投票超过2%。
Kirsten Gillibrand说，她已经接近筹款基准，但还需要在另外三次民意测验中取得资格。
九月可能是平静的一个月，但是候选人将有更多的时间来参加十月的辩论，所以对于那些没能登上德克萨斯州舞台的人来说，并不是所有的时间都浪费了。
尽管如此，今晚无疑将标志着对非常大的民主党领域的清算。
DEBATE DEADLINE DAY: 11 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES LIKELY WON'T MAKE THE NEXT ROUND
Ｗednesday evening marks the deadline to qualify for the third presidential primary debate in Houston. So far, only 10 candidates have made it past the threshold, a significant drop since the last debate in July.
There's still some hope for those who haven't yet qualified, but not much. The remaining 11 unqualified Democrats have until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time to meet the Democratic National Committee's requirements to participate: 130,000 unique donors and four approved national polls that show the candidate polling above 2 percent.
Two new national polls were released Wednesday morning from Quinnipiac and USA Today/Suffolk, neither of which gave any new candidates the necessary 2 percent to qualify. It's unclear if any more will be released.
For the majority of candidates, the writing is already on the wall: They will not be participating in the next debate. The question is whether they use this opportunity to gracefully drop out and pursue something else, like a Senate run, or if they continue to cling on and hope meet the criteria to qualify in time for the October debate.
For those of us who plan to watch along at home, this next debate will be a one-night only affair taking place on September 12 if the qualifying field remains at 10. If just one more candidate qualifies, the debates will be spread across two nights with much smaller groups on each stage.
Here's who is currently qualified:
Former Vice President Joe Biden; Senator Bernie Sanders; Senator Elizabeth Warren; Senator Kamala Harris; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; Senator Cory Booker; Senator Amy Klobuchar; former Representative Beto O'Rourke; tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang; and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro.
Here's who hasn't:
Billionaire hedge funder-turned-activist Tom Steyer; Representative Tulsi Gabbard; Senator Kirsten Gillibrand; Senator Michael Bennet; Montana Governor Steve Bullock; Representative Tim Ryan; former Representative John Delaney; New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio; spiritualist Marianne Williamson; former Representative Joe Sestak; and Miramar, Florida, Mayor Wayne Messam.
Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is unlikely to qualify for the next round of debates.
Who's Close?
Tom Steyer has made the donor threshold and only needs to make it above the 2 percent mark in one more national poll to qualify.
Tulsi Gabbard and Marianne Williamson have both met the fundraising requirements but need to poll above 2 percent in two and three more polls, respectively.
Kirsten Gillibrand says she's close to the fundraising benchmark but would also need to qualify in three more polls.
September may be a quiet month, but candidates will have more time to qualify for October's debates, so not all is lost for those who don't make it to the stage in Texas.
Still, tonight will definitely mark a reckoning for the very large Democratic field.
