Article snippet: More than a dozen Democratic presidential candidates are at risk of missing their party’s third primary debates in September and are clambering to make the cut ahead of a fast-approaching deadline in late August. Nine candidates have already qualified for the fall debates and two others are getting close, an analysis of fundraising and polling data by The Hill found. But for the other 13, the prospects appear increasingly dim. None have met the 130,000-donor benchmark set by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and only three have at least one qualifying poll to their name. The candidates have until Aug. 28 to qualify. And with less than three weeks to go, those who haven’t are scrambling for a spot on stage, acutely aware of the risks that failing to make the debate will run. “You have less than 500 hours to suddenly change the dynamic of the race to either convince enough people they should vote for you in a poll that you hope they get called for, or give you money out of their pocket so that you can make the next debate stage,” said Kelly Dietrich, a former Democratic fundraiser and founder of the National Democratic Training Committee. “Every day gets harder.” To qualify for the third and fourth debates this fall, candidates have to amass the support of 130,000 donors and register at least 2 percent support in four DNC-approved polls. That’s a tougher standard than the one used to qualify for the first two debates, which required candidates to collect cont... Link to the full article to read more