Republican Campaigns Demand More Control Over Debates

Executives of major TV news outfits have been quiet in the face of a draft document from Republican campaigns outlining demands of networks that host GOP presidential debates, following a widely criticized CNBC debate last week.

“I just want to answer the questions and be done with it”, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America on Tuesday.

“I was going to quote Kanye but I can’t, because this is a family audience”, he said.

Last week Sen. Lindsey Graham told ABC News he favors two evenly divided debates so that every candidate gets a fair shot.

In the 2016 cycle, the RNC assumed more control of the debate process than they had previously exerted.

Actually this party – err, meeting – sidestepped the Republican Party and the Republican National Committee, who had set up all the scheduled debates, as it was hosted by Ben Carson’s campaign manager, Barry Bennett.

The original letter in question was written by Ginsburg, to be sent to networks after the campaigns endorsed it, reflecting the concerns raised by the candidates’ representatives themselves. Similarly, CNN’s Republican debate was co-moderated by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, and so it was clear, again, that the tough questions were meant to strengthen the GOP, not weaken it. And a note about the preferred room temperature, which was mocked by campaigns not signing the letter, is gone. In withholding his signature, Bush joins Ohio Gov. John Kasich, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie & former Hewlett Packard Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina in refusing to endorse the protest. “There are too many people”. But getting all of the campaigns on the same page is proving hard. Ask yourself if you can imagine a candidate on the Democratic side making comments like the ones you’re hearing from the Republican frontrunners.

Obama attacked the Republican candidates from several angles, saying they “occupy a different reality”.

In debates, candidates can attack one another – but that’s not the place for journalists.

“They’ve been hitting me one way or the other”.

Granted, the CNBC did a poor job, and asked a handful of disrespectful/silly questions, which gave the candidates a magnificent opportunity to body-slam one of their favorite whipping boys, the mainstream media.

For Alex Keyssar, a professor of history and social policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, having Trump in the debates was the real reason for the tonal shift. “Thanks largely to Trump, the first debates became entertainment events”, he said, adding that this was in part because of the real-estate mogul’s willingness to insult the other candidates. “The network, CNBC, kind of got on that bandwagon and began viewing it in similar terms”, he said.

Trump on Tuesday called the effort “irrelevant”. “I’m happy to debate anywhere, anytime”.