CNN and the Des Moines Register are co-hosting the seventh Democratic debate tonight. But one front-runner won’t be attending this or any debate. His name is Michael Bloomberg.

Bloomberg has met the four-poll threshold to attend the January debate, but he is forced to sit out because he has vowed not to take campaign contributions. The Democratic National Committee requires a whopping 225,000 unique donors to qualify to get on stage. This rule, however, contravenes the party’s values regarding money in politics.