“We are thrilled:” Democrats schedule six primary debates beginning in October

Democratic candidates for president will debate for the first time October. 13 in Nevada.

Debates are also scheduled to be held in February or March in both Miami and Wisconsin, with dates to be announced. All told, Democrats will hold six primary debates with each of the four early primary voting states playing host to one. Only two debates announced by the Democratic body would fall after the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary.

A handful of liberal groups, including CREDO and MoveOn.org, said Thursday the DNC should add more debates and drop the policy that bars candidates from DNC debates if they participate in similar non-sanctioned events.

The GOP is clamping down on its debate schedule.

“The schedule they have proposed does not give voters – nationally, and especially in early states – ample opportunity to hear from the Democratic candidates for President”, says O’Malley, who is polling in the low single digits, roughly 50 points behind frontrunner Hillary Clinton. “(The Republican Party) does not, and I think we’re hurting ourselves if we try to limit debate”, he said. Bernie Sanders asked Wasserman Schultz to consider a more robust debate schedule, which would have started this summer.

Republicans are holding nine debates beginning on Thursday and stretching into March. This debate, however, will happen in the thick of the primary season and before Florida’s March 15 ballot.

With all the focus on tomorrow night’s big Republican presidential debate, it’s probably worth pointing out that the Democrats will have debates too. At a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the former Maryland Gov. called DNC leaders a “small cabal” saying that DNC intervention in the debates was like “circling a wagon” to “close off the debates”. “These debates will highlight the Democratic Party’s policies, which will continue to strengthen the middle class, and we hope Americans across the political spectrum will tune in”, said party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz.

In a statement, Sanders said he was “disappointed, but not surprised” by the DNC debate schedule. Seems geared toward limiting debate and facilitating a coronation, presumably of Hillary Clinton, with the appearance of rigging the process and stacking the deck in favor of a chosen candidate? Jim Webb, and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee are additionally within the operating.

A former Republican senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum announced his second presidential bid on May 27.

“It’s very exciting”, said Zach Hudson, spokesman for the Nevada Democratic Party.

The October meeting will be the first contested primary debate in the Democratic Party since 2008, when Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and several other contenders debated.