Dems to Set Debate Schedule This Week

[DonViejo]

Eleanor Clift

There will be six Democratic debates announced this week – and if candidates stray from the DNC’s strict rules, they will be punished by the Party Elite.

Once the Republican presidential candidates leave the debate stage, the spotlight will shift to the Democrats. The Daily Beast has learned that the Democratic National Committee will announce its debate schedule later this week, with six debates beginning in the fall, and with penalties for candidates and media outlets that stray from the sanctioned schedule.

Democrats are way behind the pace they set in the 2008 cycle -- the last time there was an open Democratic nomination. By this point in the primary calendar, there had already been five debates, the first one in South Carolina in April ’07. Anita Dunn, a Democratic strategist and debate expert, said in an e-mail that the process got off to a later start this year because Democrats didn’t have a declared candidate until May, when Hillary Clinton announced. In 2007, meanwhile, the field was pretty well set by May, she recalled.

“If we had tried to hold debates in April 2015 we would have had no candidates. The Republicans are starting in August, we will start in the fall, and I think both parties felt this was the right balance,” Dunn wrote.

Debate planning has been underway at the DNC since early last year, and Vice President Biden’s staff has been kept in the loop all along as a party leader and someone who has openly talked about possibly running. Lobbying by the campaigns has been intense, with Clinton’s campaign wanting fewer than six debates, while the staffs of Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders asking for more than that.

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/03/dems-to-set-debate-schedule-this-week.html

[Gothmog]

1. These will be fun debates to watch

[think]

2. Side note: Anita Dunn, a Democratic strategist and debate expert, has ties to the Keystone pipeline:

Strategizing for the President, and Corporate Clients, Too

By ERIC LICHTBLAU and ERIC LIPTONOCT. 19, 2012

WASHINGTON — In the rarefied world of political consultants who straddle the line between campaign adviser and corporate strategist, Anita Dunn has few peers.

As a confidante of President Obama and a senior campaign adviser, Ms. Dunn has helped prepare him for the debates this month, plotted campaign strategy and acted as a surrogate of sorts in attacking Mitt Romney for a “backward-looking attitude” on issues like women’s rights and health care.

She and her colleagues at SKDKnickerbocker, a communications firm, have built a growing list of blue-chip companies — food manufacturers, a military contractor, the New York Stock Exchange and the Canadian company developing the Keystone XL pipeline — willing to pay handsomely for help in winning over federal regulators or landing government contracts. Some clients and lobbyists who have teamed up with SKDK say they benefit from the firm’s ability to provide information about the Obama administration’s views....

Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/20/us/politics/anita-dunn-both-insider-and-outsider-in-obama-camp.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

More on Anita Dunn:

http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/05/03/obama-anita-dunn-public-relations-keystone-xl-pipeline-tar-sands-rail-transport

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/22/obama-aides-pissed-off-about-anita-dunn.html

[Thinkingabout]

7. And this affects the debates? How?

[think]

11. Hell. Let's let lobbyists for Koch Industries in on the debate process also.

If they promise their ties to Koch Industries won't affect the debate process I trust them....

[Thinkingabout]

18. Really, I did not know the Koch Industries was a candidate. Maybe we can bring in the lobbyists for

the energy, oil and banking industry and maybe the defense contractors.

[think]

19. Anita Dunn IS a consultant for those industries. It's right there in the post you responded to.

[Thinkingabout]

23. Why is Anita Dunn's association with the Koch Industries any different than the candidates

associations with other lobbyists, etc? I read your post of Anita Dunn, did you read the post of lobbyists, etc?

[think]

25. Anita Dunn has no association with Koch Industries. You may want to re-read my posts.

And candidate associations with lobbyists is an important issue.

Please feel free to name the lobbyists associated with Bernie Sanders since you are implying as much.

[Thinkingabout]

28. Okay, Keystone pipeline, what is the difference in associatons with lobbyists?

Read this site:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0210/Dem_senators_spent_weekend_with_bank_energy_tobacco_lobbyists.html

[think]

30. He was at one fund raising event where those lobbyists were present. Name one that donated to him

works on his staff, or even talked to him.

Being in the same building as a lobbyist where there are MANY other non lobbyist Democratic donors doesn't constitute actual ties.

When a news source discusses a candidate having ties to a lobbyist they are talking about an actual event like donations, fund raising, working for, and in general supporting a particular candidate.

So again please feel free to name these lobbyists you appear to claim have ties to Bernie Sanders.

[Thinkingabout]

47. Wow, went to a fund raising event and went away without any donations,

Makes me wonder why.

[stevenleser]

17. Exactly. DU is a strange place sometimes. nt

[think]

21. Do you think the AFL-CIO will hold one of the 6 scheduled debates?

[stevenleser]

33. Do you think what appears to be some humans are really pod people from Mars?

I can do red herrings too.

[think]

34. Is there any apparent conflict of interest in having a corporate consultant involved in the debate

process?

I have my doubts as to whether the AFL-CIO will be sponsoring any debates as there only 6 and the fact that the only person speaking about them now is a corporate consultant who obviously isn't representing the AFL-CIO but rather some of the corporations they work.

I could be wrong but I have my doubts. That is why I asked as I feel that there is a fairly obvious possibility that Anita Dunn is not an impartial person in the debate process.

Apparently members of the Obama administration also had concerns about impartiality:

Obama Aides ‘Pissed Off’ About Anita Dunn

By James Warren - POLITICS10.22.124:45 AM ET

~Snip~

As a consultant, not a registered lobbyist, Dunn is not covered by the same ethics rules that mandate disclosing clients or activities. She was required to heed rules for exiting political appointees, effectively barring direct communication with administration officials on behalf of clients for two years.

Still, her activities have troubled even some of her allies, who point to revolving door precedents in Washington and worry that Dunn’s work may have strained those standards. She maintained frequent contacts with the White House while her firm was representing a growing list of companies with interests in government policy.

And some of those companies are at odds with the administration’s stance. Both a White House and a campaign aide cited her firm’s work on behalf of the Keystone XL Pipeline; the for-profit higher education sector; and a business coalition desiring to reduce tax rates on offshore earnings as examples of clients with interests at odds with administration policy or rules being proposed.

~Snip~

Read more:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/22/obama-aides-pissed-off-about-anita-dunn.html

[stevenleser]

35. No. nt

[think]

37. Thank you for your opinion.

[FSogol]

9. Full Disclousre: I have ties to the English Muffin Lobby.

I had one for breakfast today.

[think]

10. Keystone isn't an english muffin. But hey have fun eating tar sands.....

[FSogol]

42. Um, my candidate is against Keystone XL, but I'm not sure anyone eats tar sands.

YMMV.

[think]

15. Will the AFL-CIO be holding any of these 6 debates?

Keith Olbermann Hosts The 2007 AFL-CIO Democratic Debate

Having a corporate "consultant" isn't an impartial body in developing the frame work for the debates.

Obama Aides ‘Pissed Off’ About Anita Dunn

By James Warren - POLITICS10.22.124:45 AM ET

~Snip~

As a consultant, not a registered lobbyist, Dunn is not covered by the same ethics rules that mandate disclosing clients or activities. She was required to heed rules for exiting political appointees, effectively barring direct communication with administration officials on behalf of clients for two years.

Still, her activities have troubled even some of her allies, who point to revolving door precedents in Washington and worry that Dunn’s work may have strained those standards. She maintained frequent contacts with the White House while her firm was representing a growing list of companies with interests in government policy.

And some of those companies are at odds with the administration’s stance. Both a White House and a campaign aide cited her firm’s work on behalf of the Keystone XL Pipeline; the for-profit higher education sector; and a business coalition desiring to reduce tax rates on offshore earnings as examples of clients with interests at odds with administration policy or rules being proposed.

~Snip~

Read more:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/22/obama-aides-pissed-off-about-anita-dunn.html

[Raine1967]

43. Did she play a part in crafting this debate process?

I agree she is shift, but it seems like she was asked to comment about this for the article, Am I missing where she was and maybe currently is involved?

Is she a consultant to any one seeking the nomination?

That daily beast article is very good btw, I missed that back in 2012.

The article the OP posted says this:

Democrats are way behind the pace they set in the 2008 cycle—the last time there was an open Democratic nomination. By this point in the primary calendar, there had already been five debates, the first one in South Carolina in April ’07. Anita Dunn, a Democratic strategist and debate expert, said in an e-mail that the process got off to a later start this year because Democrats didn’t have a declared candidate until May, when Hillary Clinton announced. In 2007, meanwhile, the field was pretty well set by May, she recalled.

“If we had tried to hold debates in April 2015 we would have had no candidates. The Republicans are starting in August, we will start in the fall, and I think both parties felt this was the right balance,” Dunn wrote.

It does;t seem like she is currently involved in the process, and it also seems that she lis not really well liked in DC for her shenanigans.

[think]

44. Honestly I can't say for certain. Dunn's response seemed to indicate that she was involved:

“If we had tried to hold debates in April 2015 we would have had no candidates. The Republicans are starting in August, we will start in the fall, and I think both parties felt this was the right balance,” Dunn wrote.

She is listed as a debate expert and no one else has stated that the debates will start in the fall except her.

At the very least she is the ONLY person who seems to have a direct knowledge as to what is going on and speaking about it in the article be it in an official capacity, as an adviser or a candidate , or a consultant to a candidate.

Perhaps I am incorrect in making the assumption that she is the source. Still Dunn seems to know what is happening and is explaining the situation as if she is in a capacity to do so.

[Raine1967]

46. I will say this, if DWS is consulting her firm, that is not cool.

but until there is proof of that, I think she was just contacted for the article.

I do appreciate the heads about about Dunn, tho.

[brooklynite]

3. I'll be with DWS on Thursday...I think I might learn something.

[MannyGoldstein]

5. As a favor, can you ask her if Demmy got his costume yet?

It all sounded so traumatic.

[rurallib]

4. wonder if someone will claim Bernie isn't a Democrat and say he is ineligible

[Agschmid]

6. No.

[Thinkingabout]

8. Only if Bernie makes himself ineligible.

[whatchamacallit]

20. I'm curious about how to interpret your DU name

Is it 'Thinking about'... something, a fragment enticing the reader to fill in the blank?

or

'Thinking about', as in I'm thinking here and there?

or maybe

'Thin king about', as in The thin king has left the castle?

Also, did you consider Wonderingif, meditatingon, or Lookingat?

[Thinkingabout]

24. Do you explain your name frequently? I liked the name.

[66 dmhlt]

12. You know you don't do Bernie any favors w/ off-the-wall, snide comments like that

And spare me the "I meant it" mendacity.

[brooklynite]

13. You're aware that DNC welcomed Bernie into the race, right?

...and that he's listed on the DNC webpage as a Democratic candidate?

but don't let that stop your anticipatory outrage.

[NCTraveler]

16. "Someone" will.

Your comment is so encompassing that it is insignificant with respect to discourse.

Someone today will say the moon landing was faked.

Someone today will say Putin is a good man.

Someone today will say that removing the tops of mountains for coal is our god given right.

Someone.........

[William769]

14. Kick & Recommended.

[restorefreedom]

22. if the first one is not until october

a lot of,people are going to go apeshit. and rightly so.

[jalan48]

27. The DNC has it under "control".

[JackInGreen]

26. We need more

Before August is over. Confirmed with no bullshit TBD.

[daleanime]

29. "penalties for candidates and media outlets that stray from the sanctioned schedule".....

Excuse me, what 'problem' are these requirements intended to address?

[jeff47]

31. The problem of one candidate not doing well in debates in 2008.

Some upstart dared to disrupt the proper campaign and get himself elected. We can't have that happen again.

[daleanime]

40. Oh, I thought that their just didn't want anyone.....

speaking up for Democratic ideas.

[jeff47]

32. Prediction 1: At least 2 debates will be scheduled after Super Tuesday.

Prediction 2: These two debates will be the ones on trade policy and economic policy.

[Agschmid]

36. Good, about time.

[winter is coming]

38. I understand the twelfth of Never is open... n/t

[olddots]

39. This looks like a "Little Debby Treat "

Sweet nothings bathed in preservatives .
the 3rd way fix has been in for years .

[sheshe2]

41. Kick & Rec!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

45. Showbiz. Picking the entertainers and writing the script.