It has become obvious the DNC under the "leadership" of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz are deliberately trying to minimize the exposure all the Democratic candidates on free media to the American Public before they cast their votes in most of the primaries.
The Democratic debate schedule is a mess. Here’s how to fix it
By Simon Rosenberg
Before we get into the devilish details, it’s important to look at next’s year’s very front-loaded Democratic primary calendar: The four early states – Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina – vote in February, followed by 21 more states between March 1 and March 15. The result is that the Democratic nominee will be effectively locked in by mid-March, only six weeks after primary voting begins. It is potentially a very compressed calendar.
As of today, the Republicans have ten debates scheduled before mid-March, while the Democrats have four. Of those debates, the GOP has six debates scheduled in the ten weeks closest to the actual voting, while the Democrats have just one.
This has to be seen as a stupendous tactical blunder by the whole DNC not just Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.
In 2016, the GOP will have debates in Iowa, New Hampshire, Texas, Florida, and twice in South Carolina – all consequential states. The only debate the Democrats have scheduled currently in 2016 is on the Sunday night of the Martin Luther King Day weekend in South Carolina.
Rather than being close to the voting – when people are paying attention – the only Democratic debate scheduled for Iowa is taking place 10 weeks before the caucuses, on a Saturday night, and the only New Hampshire debate is happening on Dec. 19, the last Saturday before Christmas, when the last thing on anyone’s mind will be politics.
Of the eight debates the GOP has scheduled with actual firm dates, six are during the week when viewership is higher. Of the four Democratic debates with firm dates, only one is during the week. The rest are on the weekend, and two – the Iowa and South Carolina debates – are also during holiday weekends.
The only possible reason I can see for Debbie Wasserman-Schultz's abysmal scheduling is to minimize free media for the campaigns without a lot of money, and maximise the role money plays in getting a candidate's message out. It would appear that Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and her DNC are deliberately sabotaging the Democratic debates not only by restricting the number but by trying to minimise the Democrats' media exposure with scheduled times that are the least likely to attract viewers.
The Democratic Party simply has no other tool as powerful as these debates to engage the millions of people needed to win elections in 2016 up and down the ticket in all fifty states. And this tool should be more aggressively deployed for the good of the whole party.
The DNC dismiss the critical role debates have had in expounding on our party's values for a large audience and making the Democratic Party attractive to Independents and even some Republicans who's votes we'll need in the general election.
Forget contacting Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. These folks need to hear from you.
From the DNC's webage:
Vice Chairs (4)
Donna Brazile
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Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
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Former Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak
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Ray Buckley
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Maria Elena Durazo
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Communications
National Press Secretary Michael Czin
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Deputy National Press Secretary Rebecca Chalif
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Media Center Director Mitch Malasky
Sorry I don't have their email addresses.