http://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1984/05/16/parties-consider-sponsoring-presidential-debates/253c3171-0015-4510-9b63-7c50d44e74fc/
The leaders of the two major parties are moving toward agreement on a plan that would have them replace the League of Women Voters as sponsors of the presidential debates this fall.
Republican National Chairman Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr. told reporters that he and his Democratic counterpart, Charles T. Manatt, have met several times on the project and have their lawyers at work studying ways the joint sponsorship could be arranged. The DNC's political director, Ann Lewis, confirmed the discussions.
Fahrenkopf said that he was "not at all" uncomfortable with the league's sponsorship of the debates in 1976 and 1980, but that he and Manatt asked themselves, "Why not have the parties sponsor the debates?" He and Lewis said sponsorship would enhance the parties' prestige and make them accountable for arranging the debates.
League President Dorothy S. Ridings said the parties inevitably would "put the interests of their particular candidates first" while the league "puts the information needs of the electorate first." Without an "honest broker" in negotiations, she added, debates could be canceled because of one candidate's "impossible demands."
Same Dorothy Ridings who is on the Board of Directors for the Commission on Presidential Debates?
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