Ahhh!!! Good Times!!
It's campaign season and soon we're going to be blessed with the 2016 Presidential Campaign Debates. I'm so excited I can hardly control myself.
Watching the 2012 republican debates was some of the best comedy ever placed on the TV tube. Watching republican clowns argue of who was going to build the biggest, baddest, most awesome fence along our southern border was awe inspiring! And there were even hints that a full blown physical fight might break out on stage as republican candidates got all feely touchy with each other.
Good times indeed!!
And here we are, just 4 short years later, ready to do it all over again. Let's take a look what's in store for us this time around.
Republican Debates
Man do we have a train load full of clowns for this round of republican debates. I think the current count is 15 candidates and that may expand to 17 before all the dust settles. Many are the same old faces we remember so well from 2012, with a couple new additions to mix things up a bit. Having another Bush added to the pile is bound to add a new dimension to this round of pie fights.
But there's a couple of problems the republicans are having with these debates. Seems there's this guy named Reince Priebus, head of the RNC, that decided the 20 debates held in 2012 hurt their candidate Mitt Romney. So sad!!! So Reince and his buddies at the RNC decided to cut back on our entertainment and reduce the number of debates to 9. I know, you're probably as disappointed as I am, but hey, 9 or so hours of republicans pie fighting is still a healthy dose of comic relief.
The reason given by Reince for this change was really quite simple “We’re not going to have a circus.” I really hate to break this to Reince and the RNC but putting that many republican clowns on a stage together is by definition a "circus".
But it seems that isn't quite enough for Reince and the RNC. Limiting the debates to just 9 might not stop the freak show, so, Courtesy of the New York Times:
Committee members overwhelmingly passed a measure that would penalize any presidential candidate who participated in a debate not sanctioned by the national party, by limiting their participation in subsequent committee-sanctioned forums.
Hmmm! Seems they're a little considered that some of the clowns might jump out of the car and go chasing bulls or something!
But the republican problems don't end there!! Oh no, they're also concerned that there may not be a stage large enough to hold all those clowns at the same time so, again courtesy of the New York Times, Fox news has decided to limit the number of republican clowns allowed on the debate stage to 10.
I'm sure this is another attempt to lessen the severity of the pie fight, but I suspect it may not turn out as planned.
Democratic Debates
As it stands now, it looks like we only have to worry about 5 candidates who will be sharing the stage. So we won't have the problems of finding a stage big enough to hold all of our candidates.
The DNC, headed up by our friend, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, has decided that Democrats only need to have 6 debates. Seems a little skimpy to me, but with only 5 candidates, I guess they'll get more stage time than any of the republicans.
I found it a little surprising to find that according to this Politico article, the DNC wants to also keep a leash on our own candidates.
In order to crack down on other, unsanctioned debates, candidates will have to agree to an exclusivity clause and won’t be eligible to participate in the DNC-backed debates if they appear elsewhere.
Has this been a problem that I'm not aware of??? I guess it is what it is!!!
So, let's jump over the fold and look at the schedules for both our republican and Democratic Presidential Debate schedules!
2016 Republican Presidential Debate Schedule Courtesy of 2016 Election Central
2015
August 6, 2015 - 9pm ET
Fox News Republican Debate
Aired On: Fox News Channel
Location: Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH
Sponsors: Fox News, facebook
Moderators: Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace
Rules: Top 10 candidates in an average of 5 national polls
Candidates: To be determined
Notes: Fox News has added a candidate forum at 1pm ET the same day for candidates who don't make the debate cut
September 16, 2015
CNN/Salem Republican Debate (Press Release)
Aired On: CNN and Salem Radio
Location: Reagan Library in Simi Valley, CA
Sponsors: Reagan Library Foundation, CNN, Salem Media Group
Moderators: Jake Tapper, Hugh Hewitt,
Rules: Split field into Segment B (top 10 candidates) and Segment A (remaining candidates getting at least 1% in polls) (Details)
Candidates: To be determined
October, 2015*
CNBC Republican Debate
Aired On: CNBC
Location: Colorado
Sponsors: CNBC (Press Release)
Candidates: To be determined
November, 2015*
Fox Business/WSJ Republican Debate
Aired On: Fox Business Network
Location: Wisconsin
Sponsors: Fox Business Network, Wall Street Journal
Candidates: To be determined
December 15, 2015
CNN/Salem Republican Debate
Aired On: CNN
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Sponsors: CNN, Salem Media Group
Candidates: To be determined
2016
January, 2016*
Fox News Republican Debate
Aired On: Fox News Channel
Location: Iowa
Sponsors: Fox News
Candidates: To be determined
February 6, 2016
ABC/IJReview Republican Debate
Aired On: ABC
Location: St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire
Sponsors: ABC News, IJReview.com (Press Release)
Candidates: To be determined
February 13, 2016
CBS News Republican Debate
Aired On: CBS
Location: South Carolina
Sponsors: CBS News
Candidates: To be determined
February 26, 2016
NBC/Telemundo Republican Debate
Aired On: NBC and Telemundo
Location: Texas
Sponsors: NBC/Telemundo, National Review
Candidates: To be determined
March, 2016*
Fox News Republican Debate
Aired On: Fox News Channel
Location: TBD
Sponsors: Fox News
Candidates: To be determined
March 10, 2016
CNN/Salem Republican Debate
Aired On: CNN
Location: Florida
Sponsors: CNN, Salem Media Group
Candidates: To be determined
Debate sponsor has not yet named specific date
I can hardly wait! Get those TIVO remote controls out and start programming!!
2016 Democratic Presidential Debate Schedule Also Courtesy of 2016 Election Central
2015
August/September 2015 Democratic Debate
Location: Iowa
Sponsors: TBD
Participants: TBD
August/September 2015* Democratic Debate
Location: New Hampshire
Sponsors: TBD
Participants: TBD
October/November 2015* Democratic Debate
Location: South Carolina
Sponsors: TBD
Participants: TBD
November/December 2015* Democratic Debate
Location: Nevada
Sponsors: TBD
Participants: TBD
2016
January 2016* Democratic Debate
Location: TBD
Sponsors: TBD
Participants: TBD
January 2016* Democratic Debate
Location: TBD
Sponsors: TBD
Participants: TBD
* = Tentative date, not confirmed
That's strange! Something seems to missing from this schedule? Like, where are the actual dates, times, venue, sponsors and stuff? It takes a lot of preparation to put together a debate. You would think they would have at least figured out who is going to run the debate. I refreshed the page a number of times, but it just kept coming up like this.
Surely our republican in charge of the DNC would have this all figured out by now? Apparently not! So put those TIVO remotes away because you won't be programming any timeslots for those Democratic debates just yet.
So I asked myself(and Google) Why haven't the 2016 Presidential Debates been scheduled?
There are potential reasons for the DNC's lag behind the RNC is finalizing or announcing its debate schedule. One possibility is that the Republican field was quicker to form (with still more candidates jumping in) than the Democratic one. For several months, it was unclear who would challenge former secretary of state Hillary Clinton for the party's nomination, thus raising questions about whether any Democratic primary debates would happen.
Now there are five prominent Democrats who have announced campaigns for the White House.
"We hope to have more details soon," a spokeswoman for the DNC told the Washington Examiner media desk on Thursday. She said a fuller schedule would be released in the fall.
Oh, okay, so you'll have more details soon. And a fuller schedule will be released in the fall. In the fall? Did I read that correctly? Seems that schedule up there for the first debate shows August/September. Is August now considered part of fall?
What else might Google tell me about this? According to this story over at Huffington Post:
Some Democrats have suggested the DNC is protecting Clinton by sanctioning only six debates.
What? Our fleckless leader of the DNC wouldn't do something like that would she? What else is out there? Following the link in the Huffington Post story to a story by
Business Insider, I find this:
One Democratic 2016 campaign adviser who spoke to Business Insider said they believe the Democratic National Committee’s debate schedule was “worked out” to benefit Hillary Clinton and hurt her opponents.
The adviser, who requested anonymity in order to speak frankly about the party’s campaign arm, suggested the DNC is hosting a small number of debates in an attempt to give Clinton’s more low profile rivals “less screen time.” They also suggested the relatively late schedule of the debates will make it harder for Clinton’s lesser known rivals to introduce themselves to voters.
Whoa!!! I guess I won't hold my breath waiting to see Clinton and Sanders on a debate stage! Perhaps it's time to find a primary challenger for Debbie Wasserman Schultz and get a new person in charge of the DNC.
Looks like Bernie has long road ahead of him! Go Bernie!!!