Tentative Agreement Reached for More Democratic Debates, Aides Say

[thesquanderer]

Source: New York Times

After days of jostling over whether to meet for more debates, and how many, aides to Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders have reached an agreement, of sorts, they said Saturday: The two will meet next week in New Hampshire and will hold three more debates thereafter.

A Clinton aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss continuing negotiations, confirmed the tentative agreement for four additional debates, which was first reported by BuzzFeed.

The two campaigns have engaged in a measure of brinkmanship in recent days, with Mr. Sanders’s team one-upping Mrs. Clinton’s by saying it would agree to an additional debate in New Hampshire if her team agreed to more beyond that.

Michael Briggs, a Sanders spokesman, said the agreement was still being discussed. “I’m optimistic,” he said, but he added, “The details are still being worked out.”



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/01/30/tentative-agreement-reached-for-more-democratic-debates-aides-say

[Betty Karlson]

1. Debbie is very unhappy about this:

Clinton should have her cake and eat it too. Sanders is not negotiating like a New Democrat. Democrats are supposed to cave at the first demand, and take their strongest weapons OFF the table before the game, not bring it on!

[JustAnotherGen]

2. Great - as long as O'Malley is excused

To continue his rolled up sleeves campaigning I'm fine with that.

It would waste his time - there's nothing in it for him.

[tarheelsunc]

3. If he's going to have to continue to beg for 30 seconds, definitely not.

O'Malley has definitely been treated as the "third wheel" these past couple of debates. It's really sad because he sounded more presidential than either of the other two candidates on stage on the rare opportunities he was given to speak.

[JustAnotherGen]

6. Honestly ;-)

All three sound Presidential, aren't knuckle dragging mouth breathers and have zero intent of inflicting pain on the American people. They are "good people".


That said - yep - he's treated as a third wheel and an "intruder" on the election process.


.

[thesquanderer]

14. O'Malley's response

from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/clinton-sanders-democratic-debates_us_56ad2bf1e4b00b033aaf5dc3?

A spokesman for the campaign of former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), the third candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, said the campaign is not particular about the location of the new debates so long as they are not on a weekend, holiday or night when people are otherwise unlikely to tune in, such as during college basketball's March Madness tournament.

Earlier in the article, it also says

none will reportedly occur on a weekend or holiday, at the insistence of the Sanders campaign, according to MSNBC.

though the embedded MSNBC link is broken.

[SmittynMo]

4. So wait!!!

What does Debbie Downer have to say about this? She has to approve all debates and setup schedules.

[mpcamb]

8. Her name is notably absent in the article,

despite being a source of the entire problem.

Speaking of problems, how much longer do we have to be saddled with her?

[left-of-center2012]

5. Needs Debbie Wasserman Schultz approval

"The Democratic National Committee has yet to weigh in on whether it would sanction the added debates."

[restorefreedom]

7. so will dino debbie approve

and prove she is working at the behest of camp clinton? or will she stick to the original schedule in an attempt to protect herself but pissing off the inevitable one?

tough choice for debbie. show herself as a clinton tool or risk upsetting her boss by pretending to be impartial

hmmmmmmmm

[Flying Squirrel]

10. Kinda sounds like she might be irrelevant

The threat to lock someone out of debates gets weaker and weaker when there are fewer debates left. Then you add in the possibility of Clinton and Sanders agreeing on the debates -- now the threat is gone altogether because you can't have a one-person debate with just O'Malley.

Debbie will have no choice but to sanction any debates that Clinton and Sanders agree upon. She may even have to admit that they didn't schedule enough debates, in order to avoid the admission of just doing what Hillary wants. Debbie will pretend to be a completely neutral party acquiescing to the united request of the three remaining candidates, and will admit only to a failure of foresight in the number of debates needed.

[restorefreedom]

12. that might very well happen. and debbie either looks like a fool or a tool.

gee, incompetent or impotent.

tough choice........

[blackspade]

9. An interesting development.

[Flying Squirrel]

11. But wait, there's more:

On Saturday afternoon Jeff Weaver, Mr. Sanders’s campaign manager, released a statement hinting that the agreement was not quite assured.

“Unfortunately, the Clinton campaign has not accepted debates we proposed on March 3 in Michigan and April 14 in New York,” Mr. Weaver said, before adding that the Clinton team “now says they want” the Michigan debate.

He continued: “We are pleased to do it on March 3 before the Michigan primary provided the Clinton campaign will agree to Brooklyn, New York, on April 14. Why won’t they debate in Brooklyn? What’s the matter with Brooklyn?”

[navarth]

13. March 3 in Michigan....I want to see that.

[Babel_17]

15. well played (nt)

[thesquanderer]

16. Brooklyn is an interesting choice

It is the location of Hillary's national campaign headquarters.

It is also the place Bernie was born.

Maybe another example of "I was there first!"

It will be interesting to see which of them wins New York, assuming it goes that far.

Hillary was a very popular Senator from New York, and as far as I know, her official primary residence is still in Chappaqua, but she's still in a sense a carpet bagger. Bernie hasn't lived in New York since the 60s, but he's a native New Yorker, and definitely an example of "you can take the politician out of New York, but you can't take the New York out of the politician." New York just oozes out of him, despite some acquired New Englandisms in his dialect.