North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum's arrival in Wisconsin for Wednesday night's GOP debate hasn't gone as expected. The presidential candidate ended up in a Milwaukee ER last night after injuring himself while playing basketball with staffers, a source tells CNN. Per the source, it's not clear if Burgum will be able to stand, putting his attendance at the 9pm ET debate in jeopardy. A rep echoes that to Politico: Burgum "may not be able to stand at the GOP presidential debate Wednesday night," as the site puts it. Though the nature of the injury wasn't specified, Politico calls it a leg injury.
Having framed himself as the candidate with the least name recognition, the 67-year-old's hope going into Wednesday had been to "get a chance to explain who we are, what we're about and why we're running." As such, "missing the two-hour debate would be a major setback for Burgum," observes the AP. Insider notes that the wealthy former software exec has loaned his campaign almost $10 million to get to this point; he offered would-be donors $20 gift cards in exchange for a donation of at least $1. (More on that tactic here.)