The most important moment of Sunday night’s Democratic presidential debate involved not what was said, but what moderator Lester Holt made sure his audience would never get to hear. After permitting Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders to offer lengthy replies to a question on the drug epidemic, he cut offMartin O’Malley and moved to a commercial break despite the former Maryland governor repeatedly requesting “just 10 seconds” in which to offer his own thoughts.
This was more than just an act of brazen unfairness toward O’Malley. Since the start of the 2016 election cycle, both major parties have been swept up in a “horse race” mentality regarding their respective fields of presidential prospects. If a candidate isn’t believed to have a viable shot at winning their party’s nomination, he or she is openly dismissed shuffled into the background so that their “electable” counterparts can receive disproportionate attention. As a result, underdogs like O’Malley are given scant opportunity to change their fortunes – and, in the process, voters are denied their right to fully assess the options available to them.