Debate may/may not happen,

[elleng]

with 3 Dems and Rachel + Todd. Sounds like Sanders campaign is 'hedging.' Heard on Rachel Show.

Here's a story: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141326659

[hrmjustin]

1. He literally called for more debates and now pulls this.

Debate Senator!

[elleng]

2. It's between sanctioned/unsanctioned.

As happened earlier (discussions between O'Malley + Sanders campaigns,) he appeared to be but then

He's afraid of being prohibited from participating in future debates, whenever they might be. During the GENERAL campaign???

[hrmjustin]

3. He is making a big error. The DNC can't sanction all of them if they all go.

He should drop his opposition and debate.

[elleng]

5. I agree,

'sanction' means nothing if they all go, and surely DNC wouldn't prevent any of them from appearing agains repugs in the General.

[Voice for Peace]

38. Hillary won't go if unsanctioned.

DWS says no sanction.
(Who the fuck is she anyway)
Bernie abides by his agreement
I personally wish he and Martin would tell the DNC to go fuck itself, set up REAL & FAIR dtebates, invite Hilary, trump, carly

[winter is coming]

17. Of course the DNC could sanction all of them.

And then there wouldn't be any debates at all after NH.

[hrmjustin]

20. And then they could do more debates. The DNC is not going to cancel the future debates.

[winter is coming]

23. You don't know that. n/t

[PoliticAverse]

29. Clinton won't do the debate if it is unsanctioned. This is why her spokesperson today

mentioned the sanction requirement.

[Uncle Joe]

36. I pointed this out on the linked thread of the OP.

[Cheese Sandwich]

8. It's the 2 sanctioned debates on Feb 11 and March 9

Debating on Feb 4 could get you banned from those two as per the rules.

[elleng]

10. So dws might cancel them,

or keep him from participating???

[Cheese Sandwich]

14. It just seemed like you thought the only remaining debates were in the general election.

[elleng]

15. You're right, I did,

forgot about the other 2.

[jfern]

41. The March one is pretty forgettable, since like 20 states would have voted by then

[pangaia]

27. "literally?" Ok, thanks.

[hrmjustin]

31. Well he did call for more debates.

[jfern]

40. A single debate in Q2 or Q3 when not many people knew of Bernie yet would have been nice

But now that Hillary isn't doing so well there's suddenly another debate? Screw that.

[LexVegas]

4. Sanders fears HRC. nt

[elleng]

7. I don't think so,

no evidence of that.

[Robbins]

6. of course she blames bernie and his campagin

she can't be any clearer she is biased towards CLinton.

[hrmjustin]

13. Sanders said he would not.

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/01/26/bernie-sanderss-campaign-says-he-would-sit-out-unsanctioned-debate/?_r=0

[Andy823]

9. Not good for Bernie.

After all the complaining about more debates, and now he will sit it out! I think Hillary said she would go if Bernie went, and O'Malley was the first to say yes. I can pretty much guess how his so called supporters will spin this here on DU even when they all wanted "more debates" for months now.

[elleng]

11. I agree, but what really happened, Andy?

MO'M said YES immediately, hrc said OK if other participate. Think she was betting bernie wouldn't agree, thus avoiding need to show up, screwing MO'M again???

[Andy823]

24. Yes

i think both of them don't want to debate O'Malley anymore than they have to. He has been doing much better in the debates, and the more that can avoid him, the better. I am really disappointed though that Bernie is the one that backed down after all the times he complained we needed more debates.

No way in hell would the DNC do anything if all of them showed up and debated. Even if that happened, they could still have all the debates they could get sponsored by other groups, and the media would be there.

[elleng]

26. Yes he has done better.

I'd thought from the beginning that hrc/dnc/dws didn't want to confront MO'M, too many FACTS and responsible PLANS to deal with.

[Autumn]

12. Hillary and O'Malley should debate without Bernie, as an outsider Bernie should abide by Deb's rules

[CharlotteVale]

21. LOL, she'd be debating with herself and she'd still lose.

[Autumn]

22. This is hilarious.

[CharlotteVale]

16. Why should he do it when if he does he won't be able to participate in the "official" debates?

[tammywammy]

28. If all three participate do you think the final two sanctioned debates will be canceled?

If the other two are canceled, then the other candidates would be free to set up their own anyway.

[winter is coming]

33. Yes.

If the goal is to minimize the amount of time HRC and Sanders are on the same stage, yes. One debate, before NH, a state Bernie's widely expected to win, is better than two later on. There would be no chance of Hillary having a 9/11 moment just before Super Tuesday, and HRC could focus her attention on carefully managed press opportunities and ad campaigns.

[CharlotteVale]

34. The real question is why doesn't DWS sanction this debate?

Bernie previously agreed to not participate in unsanctioned debates. Whether the DNC would cancel the official ones is utterly beside the point.

Bernie won't go back on his agreement to not participate in an unsanctioned debate. The DNC would like nothing better than to make him the bad guy if he did. And he's being made the bad guy anyway because he is keeping to his word.

If this debate were sanctioned, of course he would take part. So once again, why won't DWS sanction it if they all want to do it?

[bigtree]

18. pure politics

...'hedging,' after demanding more debates?

Say it 'aint so.

[elleng]

19. NOT the first time, ya know, bigtree!

Isn't this cute, same crap happening with trump + repug 'debate' this week, doesn't like megan kelly!!!

[Andy823]

25. I agree.

This is going to make "him" look bad. Could be bad advice from his camp, or he is making the mistake, but if they all showed up, there is no way the DNC would do anything, and even if they did, the three of them could have as many debates as the want with other groups sponsoring them. This is not good for Bernie at all.

[tammywammy]

30. That's my thought

Say the DNC then cancels the other two debates, okay then they could set up their own with another sponsor.

Seems like this would be a no brainer for Bernie.

[Andy823]

42. I agree.

I just can't understand why he is backing down on this, it makes no sense at all.

[NowSam]

32. DWS aka Camp Hillary suddenly want to debate because they are down

But they made the rules and now Bernie who is winning is abiding by those rules. Seems like DWS/Camp Hill should just make this an official debate and then all candidates could participate. Suddenly its okay to break the rules because Hillary is down? Transparent.

[aspirant]

35. Well, this is easy,

both Maddow and Todd have shows on MSNBC so just bring DWS on and find out if she is sanctioning their debate and if not, why not?

Case closed

[restorefreedom]

37. what utter bullshit game playing by dws

there is a simple solution to this

dnc contacts the three campaigns and ask them if they agree to have the exclusivity clause lifted
dnc either sanctions this debate or removes the exclusivity clause and penalty
candidates are free to debate

when hillary was afraid to debate, they were,locked away like they were a televised crime. now she is tanking, and her campaign is goading both other campaigns into participating in an unsanctioned debate.

i am glad bernie is not getting into this game playing. unfortunately, dws screwed herself. if she sanctions this debate, it will look like favoratism towards the clinton campaign, which of course it is. if she doesn't weigh in, she will force all three candidates to flout the rules,which could result in penalties. and i don't think for a minute she would hesitate to try and punish some candidates more than another.

i feel bad for the mom campaign, as he has been screwed the most by this biased rigging. but mom supporters please remember whose fault this really is, and it isn't bernie who is trying to follow the rules, and followed them even when they disadvantaged him.

this is what happens when people try and rig shit and it blows up in their face.