Politico
By Gabriel Debenedetti and Dylan Byers
August 6, 2015
Democrats have got themselves a primary.
The
first debate for the Democratic Party’s 2016 presidential contenders
will take place October 13 in Nevada and be hosted by CNN, the
Democratic National Committee announced
Thursday, just hours before Republican hopefuls face off on stage for
the first time in Cleveland.
The
announcement ends weeks of speculation about the schedule, but it is
unlikely to stop the grumbling from some Democratic White House
aspirants; it took just minutes
for one campaign to blast out a press release expressing irritation.
A
total of six debates are scheduled, with six different sponsors: Oct.
13 in Nevada (hosted by CNN); Nov. 14 in Des Moines, Iowa (CBS/KCCI and
The Des Moines Register);
Dec. 19 in Manchester, New Hampshire (ABC/WMUR); Jan. 17 in Charleston,
South Carolina
(NBC/Congressional
Black Caucus Institute); and two scheduled for either February or March
in Miami, Florida, and Wisconsin, hosted by Univision/The Washington
Post and
PBS, respectively. The DNC said it would release additional details
about debate dates, locations and partnerships soon.
The
lineup itself does not come as a surprise for Democrats, but for the
candidates who wanted more debates to come sooner, the fact that only
four will occur before the
Iowa caucuses in February is a disappointment.
“These
six debates will not only give caucus goers and primary voters ample
opportunity to hear from our candidates about their vision for our
country’s future, they will
highlight the clear contrast between the values of the Democratic Party
which is focused on strengthening the middle class versus Republicans
who want to pursue out-of-touch and out-of-date policies,” DNC
Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a statement.
The
party first announced in May that it would host six debates involving
the candidates, a pack that’s now made up of front-runner and former
Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Maryland Gov. Martin
O’Malley, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, and former Rhode Island Sen.
and Gov. Lincoln Chafee.
Vice
President Joe Biden’s chief of staff has also been included on
communications from the DNC about debate planning, but the Biden team
has yet to chime in as Biden
weighs his options.
The
DNC said on Thursday that to qualify for a debate, candidates must get
at least 1 percent in three credible national polls within the six weeks
before the debate —
a threshold that could make Webb, Chafee, and O’Malley’s camps nervous.
Campaigns
started griping about the plan soon after the party committee announced
it three months ago — the Sanders and O’Malley camps publicly said they
wanted more than
six debates, while Clinton’s team initially lobbied for even fewer.
In
the intervening months, some of the complaints burst into the open. The
Clinton camp has stayed quiet, but Sanders sent a letter to Wasserman
Schultz in June asking
for more events, sooner — including some that involve Republicans — and
O’Malley railed against the process while campaigning in Iowa on
Wednesday.
“To
those in Washington who think they can limit the number of debates that
we’re going to have before the Iowa caucuses, can circle the wagons and
close off debates:
I think they’re going to have another thing coming when they talk to
the people of Iowa,” the Marylander said in Cedar Rapids, telling The
Hill newspaper that he had personally complained to Wasserman Schultz
last week.
O’Malley’s
campaign went further on Thursday morning, when chief strategist Bill
Hyers circulated a statement accusing the DNC of making the process
“less democratic”
by limiting the number of debates. The campaign then sent out a
fundraising email to its supporters carrying a similar message within
minutes.
A
few hours later, Sanders chimed in: “I am disappointed, but not
surprised, by the debate schedule announced by the Democratic National
Committee,” he said. “At a time
when many Americans are demoralized about politics and have given up on
the political process, I think it’s imperative that we have as many
debates as possible — certainly more than six.”
Webb’s team, meanwhile, told POLITICO that it wanted more debates in Iowa and New Hampshire.
“All we know is we will show up for as many debates as they want to do,” spokesman Craig Crawford said on Wednesday.
Chances
for all the candidates to appear in the same place at the same time
have been few and far between. They all appeared together at the Iowa
Democrats’ Hall of Fame
Dinner in July, and all are expected at the DNC meeting in Minneapolis
later this month, but other gatherings have seen at least one of them
miss out.
Clinton,
for example, is the only contender not in Altoona, Iowa, for the Iowa
Federation of Labor meeting Thursday, and Webb will miss the Iowa
Democratic Wing Ding in
Clear Lake next week.
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