Democrats to start presidential primary debates in June 2019

Associated Press ^ | December 20, 2018 | Bill Barrow

[Olog-hai]

Democrats will hold at least a dozen presidential primary debates starting in June 2019 and running through April 2020, with party Chairman Tom Perez promising rules that will give everyone in a potentially large field a fair shot at voters’ attention.

Making public his first in a series of decisions over the 2020 debate calendar, Perez said Thursday that the national party will sponsor six debates in 2019 and six more in 2020. That could be extended if the nomination process drags deep into the spring.

Exact dates, locations, media partners and qualifying thresholds will be announced in early 2019. But Perez says early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina won’t host debates until 2020. […]

From the outset, Perez and Cahill stated a determination to avoid charges of favoritism that dogged Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016, in part because of the debate schedule established by then-Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. …

[refreshed]

We should protest the debates. Bring it to them. Family friendly protests like the original TEA Party protests.

[RicocheT]

Ugh, a 2 year campaign season is nuts. We are not pleased to see press and TV dominated by political ads and opinion pieces so long into the presidential election. Start the hoopla in February 2020 instead.

[dowcaet]

The cold chicken dinner circuit will be busy this winter. There will be RATS all over the country looking for money. Shoot, they do that every single day as a party! A presidential race doesn’t change that. After reading so many posts about potential RAT presidential candidates I think Kamala Harris and Beto are their two strongest candidates right now, but out there lurking of course is Hillary. She will have a say on who the nominee will eventually be even if isn’t her in the end.

[adorno]

What debates?

They will all be speeches about who hates Trump the most.

“I hate him”.

“I hate him more”.

“I hate him even more”.

“I hate him with a passion”.

“He has orange skin”.

“His wife married him for his money”.

“He is killing innocent Mexican children”.

[FrankR]

The “democrat” debates will be nothing but public, Trump-bashing sessions...just like everything else.

It’s a trigger reflex, put a microphone/camera in front of a democrat, then some primal instinct kicks in to bash Donald Trump.

It will be something else that CNN will use for “headline research”, and that I can totally ignore.

[Huskrrrr]

Communists vs. Socialists

[alloysteel]

The Democrats wait so long to get started. I would have thought there would be more pronounced profiles of front-runners at this point in the cycle.

Chosen in back rooms, the Democrats purposely limit the number and orientation of the candidates they allow to run in various elective slots at every level through so-called “representative government”.

[adorno]

Ugh, a 2 year campaign season is nuts. We are not pleased to see press and TV dominated by political ads and opinion pieces so long into the presidential election. Start the hoopla in February 2020 instead.

Because of 'freedom of speech', we have people and political parties in permanent campaign mode.

Perhaps there can be rules, even laws, that prohibit campaign seasons from lasting more than 5 months during election years.

And with that, anybody caught in 'campaign mode' after the election, can be fined or charged with a misdemeanor, and banned from running for office for period of 4 years. That would allow those elected to actually do govern without the petty politics that gets in the way. If somebody has a beef with a bill or a regulation, vote for or against it, and move on, and then worry about changing those in power in the next round of elections.

[dan on the right]

Bring your popcorn and vomit bags.

[libstripper]

This announcement causes me to remember Shakespeare's famous line, “Brevity is the soul of wit.”

By the time they finish their debates with 40 or more yapping, yowling, carping nitwits going after each other, they'll be reduced to an audience of staff, press, and Tea Party protesters.

[DFG]

Beto needs something to do?

[dead]

They can’t just bash Trump. If any of them are serious about actually winning the nomination (as opposed to simply fundraising) they will have to go after each other. Once that starts, it’s will be such a party! Imagine Booker getting all flustered and screaming at Elizabeth Warren! And Kamala Harris calling Andy Cuomo racist! Just good times ahead.