And then there were ten. Democratic candidates on stage, that is.

The New York Times reports that the DNC has whittled the Dem field down to 10 candidates—enough to fit on a single stage for the next debate—after another round of dismal polling for the tail-end vanity candidates.

• Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
• Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey
• Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind.
• Julián Castro, the former housing secretary
• Senator Kamala Harris of California
• Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota
• Former Representative Beto O'Rourke of Texas
• Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont
• Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts
• Andrew Yang, a tech entrepreneur

Pause to consider how overwhelmingly important it is to lower-ranked Dem candidates to be on that privately-owned, legacy-media stage.