Democrats plan four debates before Iowa caucuses

The Democratic National Committee unveiled plans on Thursday to hold six presidential debates starting this fall, with the first scheduled for October 13 in Nevada.

The final two Democratic debates will be held in February or March, one in Miami hosted by Univision and The Washington Post, and the other in Wisconsin hosted by PBS.

It’s hard to be a Democrat with ambition, unless you’re Hillary Clinton.

Two of Hillary Clinton’s Democratic rivals are quite unhappy with the way in which the DNC has set up the Democratic debates.

The campaign for U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley called for more debates.

Also in the Democratic field are former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, former Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee and former Virginia senator Jim Webb.

Nevada, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina were previously announced as debate sites, and were selected because they are early caucus and primary states, Schultz wrote.

The Democrats’ announcement comes on the very day Republicans gather in Cleveland, Ohio for their debut debate of the 2016 race. Bush, heavily favored to win the nomination will debate his primary for the first time on Thursday night. If they agree to appear in the sanctioned Democratic debates, they can not take part in unsanctioned debates.

“With our first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses just months away, the debate will be a great opportunity for Iowans to hear directly from our Democratic presidential candidates about pressing issues facing our country”, McGuire said in a statement. “Within the ultimate world, we might have extra debates earlier than the Iowa caucus”. That means any candidate who participates in an unofficial debate would be barred from one that is party-sanctioned. Right now she is pursuing the front-runner strategy, in that she can be hurt more by a primary process that gets combative in debates.

It’s easy to understand why the DNC may want to minimize the number of debates Hillary will apear in.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders urged the DNC in a letter to hold a series of debates beginning this summer, including some with Republican candidates in states that do not generally elect Democrats.

Unsurprisingly, the Sanders and O’Malley camps have issued statements making their unhappiness clear.

“If anything, it seems geared toward limiting debate and facilitating a coronation, not promoting a robust debate and primary process”, he said”.