Article snippet: MANCHESTER, N.H. — In the final days of August, months before any voters head to the polls, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is in a hurry — and for good reason. The presidential hopeful pitched her plan Tuesday to expand mental health services in a speech to 11 people at a community center. Later that day, she hopped on CNN to talk about Joe Biden. Her ads are on television in Iowa and New Hampshire, thanks to a more than $1 million buy in those states. For more than half of 22 Democrats running for president, next Wednesday might as well be Election Day. While front-runners such as Biden, Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have secured their spots in next month’s debate, much of the rest of the field is in an all-out sprint to meet the party’s requirements to get on the stage in Houston in September. Before Aug. 28, Democratic candidates must show they have at least 130,000 individual donors and register at least 2 percent in four national or early state polls. As Gillibrand prepared for her Manchester event, former Housing secretary Julian Castro announced he would be the 10th candidate to qualify, thanks to a new national poll from CNN. Gillibrand says she is close to the magic number. “The hard reality is that you need money to continue on with these campaigns,” said Dean Spiliotes, a political science professor at Southern New Hampshire University. “And these DNC rules put a deadline on when you need that money. The... Link to the full article to read more