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In reply to the discussion: Democrats will hold 12 debates for the 2020 presidential contest [View all]Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)In 2016, Debbie Wasserman Schultz introduced a new innovation: The DNC would not only approve certain debates, but it would demand the exclusive right to do so, and would enforce that new power by barring, from its "approved" debates, any candidate who had the temerity to engage in an exchange of ideas not approved by the DNC.
The candidates who were disadvantaged by the artificially truncated debate schedule complained about the new rule. Nevertheless, they were forced to acquiesce. The new rule achieved its purpose. The DNC succeeded in drastically reducing the number of debates, as compared with the calendar during the previous competitive cycle (2008). Furthermore, the DNC's stranglehold on the debate schedule enabled it to further diminish the debates' impact by starting them later in the season and holding them at times that reduced viewership.
If, in the next cycle, the DNC gives up its attempt to stifle debates it doesn't like, then that will be a step forward.