Democratic Presidential Candidates Agree to Expanded Debate Schedule

The Hillary Clinton campaign has agreed to participate in four more debates, an aide said Saturday.

MSNBC will be hosting another Democratic debate with the leading candidates on Thursday, Feb. 4, in New Hampshire ahead of the first-in-the-nation primary, the network announced on Sunday.

“We are delighted to partner with CNN on Wednesday’s town hall here in New Hampshire”, New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Raymond Buckley said.

On Sunday, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) agreed to sanctioning the additional primary debates. “The people of New Hampshire are serious about their role in the nominating process”, Sanders’ New Hampshire state director, Julia Barnes, said in the statement. “Some of my best friends are moderates, but you can’t be a progressive and a moderate at the same time”, Sanders said at the town hall, hosted by CNN. The debate would be just three days after the Iowa Caucuses and five days before the New Hampshire Primary, which will be held Tuesday, February 9.

The Clinton campaign has proposed a debate in Flint on March 3, but the Sanders campaign will not agree to this unless Clinton agrees to attend a debate in Brooklyn on April 14th. The rest of the new debates will follow in the spring.

The Democratic National Committee is sanctioning the debate amid pressure from voters and candidates. “However, absent agreement on the details, we will give our campaigns the space to focus on the important work of engaging caucus goers in Iowa”.

The MSNBC debate and CNN Town Hall will be the last real chance for Hillary Clinton to cut into that impressive Bernie Sanders lead in New Hampshire.

The election-prediction site FiveThirty-Eight uses its own statistical formula to project Sanders with a seemingly slam-dunk 96 percent chance of winning the New Hampshire primary.