section_path: 2020 presidential campaign
section_name: 2020 presidential campaign
paragraph_text: 2020 presidential campaign
  
  In February 2019, Gabbard officially launched her 2020 presidential campaign. Gabbard was the first female combat veteran to run for president. CNN described her foreign policy platform as anti-interventionist and her economic platform as populist.
  
  Gabbard was the most frequently Googled candidate after the first, second, and fourth 2020 Democratic primary debates. During the second debate, Gabbard criticized Kamala Harris 's record as attorney general of California, accusing her of holding innocent people on death row and asserting that Harris owed them an apology.
  
  In the second debate, when asked about her meeting with Assad, she said she "will never apologize for doing all that I can to prevent more of my brothers and sisters from being sent into harm's way to fight counterproductive regime change wars that made our country less safe.... f that means meeting with a dictator or meeting with an adversary, absolutely, I would do it. This is about the national security of our country." When Anderson Cooper asked if she considered Assad a torturer and murderer, Gabbard responded "That's not what this is about. I don't defend or apologize or have anything to do with what he has done." Cooper repeated his question, asking if she agreed that "Assad is a murderer and a torturer"; Gabbard responded "I don't dispute that."
  
  In a CNN panel discussion the following day, A.B. Stoddard, associate editor of Real Clear Politics, observed: "it is all over the internet today that "Russian bots are helping Tulsi Gabbard that refuses to condemn Assad because she's doing the work of the Russians and is going to run as a third-party spoiler and reelect Trump." Stoddard continued: "There are serious knives out for Tulsi Gabbard."
  
  While Gabbard did not meet the polling threshold for the third presidential debate, she did qualify for the fourth debate in Ohio in October 2019. In July 2019, Gabbard was the only 2020 presidential candidate to visit Puerto Rico and join protests urging Governor Ricardo Rosselló to resign.
  
  In September 2019, Vanity Fair summarized media coverage of Gabbard's presidential campaign as "the press hates Gabbard even more than it hates Sanders". The Hill 's news anchor Krystal Ball and Chief Washington Correspondent Saagar Enjeti both described Gabbard as "the most unfairly maligned person in Washington". Ball noted that Gabbard had been "dismissed and otherized" by the media, with her campaign scrutinized for alleged Russian ties, citing as examples: NBC News suggestion that her campaign was enhanced by Russian bots, based on a group that had in another instance been revealed for fabricating such claims; and The Daily Beast 's accusation she was being supported by "Putin apologists," citing a small percentage of her donors. Ball noted, "Her interaction with Assad is weaponized to undercut everything else Tulsi has to say about the American warfighting machine," pointing out that critics often have "a bit of a blind spot about their own foreign policy positions." Lexico-statistical analysis showed Gabbard received the most negative coverage during the June–September period.
  
  In October 2019, former secretary of state and 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton suggested that Gabbard was a "Russian asset". Gabbard was defended by fellow 2020 Democratic presidential candidates Andrew Yang, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders, who rejected Clinton's suggestion that Gabbard was a Russian asset. Trump also defended Gabbard. Initial news stories had mistakenly also reported Clinton claimed Russia was "grooming" Gabbard to run as a third-party candidate, who would help president Donald Trump win reelection via a spoiler effect. However, Gabbard had repeatedly said she would not run as a third-party candidate in 2020 and did not do so. CNN host Van Jones, meanwhile, opined that Clinton's statement was "a complete smear with no facts". Gabbard herself condemned Clinton's remarks in tweets, calling Clinton "the queen of warmongers" and the "personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long." She claimed there was a campaign to destroy her reputation, orchestrated by Clinton via proxies in media and the war machine. In January 2020, Gabbard filed a legal defamation lawsuit against Clinton over the 'Russian asset' assertion as indicated in the complaint; but dropped it five months later with her lawyers stating the legal merit was valid but, living in a "post-Covid world", they could better focus their attention elsewhere.
  
  Also in October 2019, The Nation's James Carden wrote: " McCarthyism had gone mainstream" as media attacked Gabbard. He saw the Clinton-Gabbard feud as part of "a long campaign of vilification against critics of the Russia consensus" by Clinton and "her allies in the media (which very much include certain former high-ranking members of the US intelligence community)".
  
  After both the November and December 2019 debates, Saturday Night Live ' s parodies of these debates showed Gabbard as the villain, introduced her with menacing music and flashing lights and had her actress laughing evil and making threats.
  
  On March 3, 2020, Gabbard, who is of Samoan descent, earned two delegates in American Samoa, making her the second woman of color (after Shirley Chisholm) and the first Asian-American and Pacific-Islander presidential candidate to earn primary delegates. As of March 15, she was one of the three remaining candidates alongside Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders who had not suspended their campaigns. In an interview on Fox, she highlighted a Rasmussen poll showing that 49% of voters supported her inclusion in debates with Sanders and Biden, and accused the DNC and the media of attempting to "shut her down" since her campaign's inception through tactics like character assassination, media blackouts, and blocking her message from reaching the public. On March 19, 2020, she dropped out of the 2020 election and endorsed former vice president Joe Biden. Gabbard was the only candidate with primary delegates to not be invited to the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
  
  In February 2019, Gabbard officially launched her 2020 presidential campaign. Gabbard was the first female combat veteran to run for president. CNN described her foreign policy platform as anti-interventionist and her economic platform as populist.
  
  Gabbard was the most frequently Googled candidate after the first, second, and fourth 2020 Democratic primary debates. During the second debate, Gabbard criticized Kamala Harris 's record as attorney general of California, accusing her of holding innocent people on death row and asserting that Harris owed them an apology.
  
  In the second debate, when asked about her meeting with Assad, she said she "will never apologize for doing all that I can to prevent more of my brothers and sisters from being sent into harm's way to fight counterproductive regime change wars that made our country less safe.... f that means meeting with a dictator or meeting with an adversary, absolutely, I would do it. This is about the national security of our country." When Anderson Cooper asked if she considered Assad a torturer and murderer, Gabbard responded "That's not what this is about. I don't defend or apologize or have anything to do with what he has done." Cooper repeated his question, asking if she agreed that "Assad is a murderer and a torturer"; Gabbard responded "I don't dispute that."
  
  In a CNN panel discussion the following day, A.B. Stoddard, associate editor of Real Clear Politics, observed: "it is all over the internet today that "Russian bots are helping Tulsi Gabbard that refuses to condemn Assad because she's doing the work of the Russians and is going to run as a third-party spoiler and reelect Trump." Stoddard continued: "There are serious knives out for Tulsi Gabbard."
  
  While Gabbard did not meet the polling threshold for the third presidential debate, she did qualify for the fourth debate in Ohio in October 2019. In July 2019, Gabbard was the only 2020 presidential candidate to visit Puerto Rico and join protests urging Governor Ricardo Rosselló to resign.
  
  In September 2019, Vanity Fair summarized media coverage of Gabbard's presidential campaign as "the press hates Gabbard even more than it hates Sanders". The Hill 's news anchor Krystal Ball and Chief Washington Correspondent Saagar Enjeti both described Gabbard as "the most unfairly maligned person in Washington". Ball noted that Gabbard had been "dismissed and otherized" by the media, with her campaign scrutinized for alleged Russian ties, citing as examples: NBC News suggestion that her campaign was enhanced by Russian bots, based on a group that had in another instance been revealed for fabricating such claims; and The Daily Beast 's accusation she was being supported by "Putin apologists," citing a small percentage of her donors. Ball noted, "Her interaction with Assad is weaponized to undercut everything else Tulsi has to say about the American warfighting machine," pointing out that critics often have "a bit of a blind spot about their own foreign policy positions." Lexico-statistical analysis showed Gabbard received the most negative coverage during the June–September period.
  
  In October 2019, former secretary of state and 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton suggested that Gabbard was a "Russian asset". Gabbard was defended by fellow 2020 Democratic presidential candidates Andrew Yang, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders, who rejected Clinton's suggestion that Gabbard was a Russian asset. Trump also defended Gabbard. Initial news stories had mistakenly also reported Clinton claimed Russia was "grooming" Gabbard to run as a third-party candidate, who would help president Donald Trump win reelection via a spoiler effect. However, Gabbard had repeatedly said she would not run as a third-party candidate in 2020 and did not do so. CNN host Van Jones, meanwhile, opined that Clinton's statement was "a complete smear with no facts". Gabbard herself condemned Clinton's remarks in tweets, calling Clinton "the queen of warmongers" and the "personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long." She claimed there was a campaign to destroy her reputation, orchestrated by Clinton via proxies in media and the war machine. In January 2020, Gabbard filed a legal defamation lawsuit against Clinton over the 'Russian asset' assertion as indicated in the complaint; but dropped it five months later with her lawyers stating the legal merit was valid but, living in a "post-Covid world", they could better focus their attention elsewhere.
  
  Also in October 2019, The Nation's James Carden wrote: " McCarthyism had gone mainstream" as media attacked Gabbard. He saw the Clinton-Gabbard feud as part of "a long campaign of vilification against critics of the Russia consensus" by Clinton and "her allies in the media (which very much include certain former high-ranking members of the US intelligence community)".
  
  After both the November and December 2019 debates, Saturday Night Live ' s parodies of these debates showed Gabbard as the villain, introduced her with menacing music and flashing lights and had her actress laughing evil and making threats.
  
  On March 3, 2020, Gabbard, who is of Samoan descent, earned two delegates in American Samoa, making her the second woman of color (after Shirley Chisholm) and the first Asian-American and Pacific-Islander presidential candidate to earn primary delegates. As of March 15, she was one of the three remaining candidates alongside Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders who had not suspended their campaigns. In an interview on Fox, she highlighted a Rasmussen poll showing that 49% of voters supported her inclusion in debates with Sanders and Biden, and accused the DNC and the media of attempting to "shut her down" since her campaign's inception through tactics like character assassination, media blackouts, and blocking her message from reaching the public. On March 19, 2020, she dropped out of the 2020 election and endorsed former vice president Joe Biden. Gabbard was the only candidate with primary delegates to not be invited to the 2020 Democratic National Convention.