Bullock Campaign Press Release - In The News: "Let Bullock Debate"

Helena MT – Last week, after the DNC officially blocked Governor Steve Bullock from the first debate, a new digital ad captured the reaction from many voters and pundits alike: "Really?"

Watch: "Really?"

Here's what voters are reading and seeing in the news about the decision:

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow:

"He is one of the most popular governors in the country. He is running on the basis of his true claim that he is the only candidate in the race who has won a Trump state nationwide. Governor Bullock started his run late after overseeing the end of Montana's legislative session this year, which included him signing into law some long-fought legislation, including Medicaid expansion in Montana which got like 90,000 or 100,000 people in that state covered by health insurance."

MSNBC's Hardball:

"Steve Bullock, who I thought was an early hotshot potential in this race — Bullock announced his run just over a month ago, however… I hope his invitation for me to go fishing with him in Montana still holds."

On ABC's The Briefing Room:

"This is about making room for someone who actually won in a Trump state, who's been able to get progressive things through a Republican legislature, and also represents and works in rural areas...Those are places that we as a party can't overlook."

"Every time I've gotten elected in Montana, I've tried to put people over sort of the politics or the political games. That's where I've been all the way along, and that's how I won three times in Montana."

Art Cullen in the Storm Lake Times: Let Bullock Debate

"Them that writes the rules can unwrite them. The DNC's job is to unseat Donald Trump. Period. If that means writing a waiver for Bullock, who won a state that Trump won by double digits. He wears blue jeans and scuffed square-toe cowboy boots. He talks with cattlemen and strip miners. He speaks New West, like Michael Bennet, John Hickenlooper and Jay Inslee. Steve Bullock is an entirely credible candidate who can win Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio. But he can't if he is shut out of the nomination process, which is what the DNC is doing."

"Let Bullock in. He is as worthy for consideration as Joe Biden or Elizabeth Warren. We know that John Delaney agrees with Bullock and wants him in the race, even though they occupy the same moderate/pragmatist lane. Bullock enjoys support from the state's longest-serving Democrat, Attorney General Tom Miller, and many rural activists are with him."

In Newsweek: 'That's Horses**t': Democratic 2020 contender releases ad blasting DNC over exclusion from first debates

"Bullock's new ad has sought to push back against the notion that the failure to meet either threshold says anything about the promise of his candidacy.

"‘You don't need to be from Montana to know that anybody who wins by four, the same election that Trump won by 20, is doing something right here,' the supporter depicted in the ad observes. ‘Well, what are you waiting for? Go and donate.'"

In ABC News: In new campaign ad, Bullock looks for silver lining after not making debate stage

"The governor was on the cusp of meeting the DNC's requirements and even briefly considered by media outlets to have met the threshold up until a recent DNC rule change, which removed one of the polls that would've qualified the Montana governor for the stage. After the change was publicized, Bullock qualified in only two polls accepted by the DNC."

"As the only candidate elected in a state that also voted for President Donald Trump in the 2016 election, Bullock has argued that the DNC is blocking the one Democrat who can truly connect with Trump voters. He's taking advantage of not making the debate stage to emphasize what's he accomplished working with a Republican legislature in Montana — and giving his campaign a chance at what his many rivals in the 2020 field wish for: a moment to stand apart from the pack."

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