05-16-2024, 02:38 AM
Thanks, PeterB.
“For the president’s team, much of the decision stemmed from frustration over how the CPD handled the debates in 2020. In the campaign’s letter to the commission Monday, JEN O’MALLEY DILLON ticked off a number of complaints about its approach: that the scheduled debates would take place too late in the process after early voting is already underway in many states, that its model is antiquated and geared towards “huge spectacles” rather than “good debates,” and that the commission was “unable or unwilling to enforce the rules” during those 2020 debates.
Specifically, Biden’s team did not see the point of traveling to a college campus in a random state chosen by the commission — Utah, Texas and Virginia were set to host this year’s debates, a selection that perplexed some aides to the president. But the most problematic aspect of the commission’s debate format was its need to have a live audience. One person familiar with the campaign’s thinking pointed to Trump’s 2023 CNN town hall with anchor KAITLAN COLLINS where the former president’s supporters packed the room, giving the back and forth a feeling more akin to a pro wrestling match.
That could be a potential sticking point for Trump, however. Although he agreed to the studio debates without an audience, he suggested in a Truth Social post that he prefers “more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue.”
“For the president’s team, much of the decision stemmed from frustration over how the CPD handled the debates in 2020. In the campaign’s letter to the commission Monday, JEN O’MALLEY DILLON ticked off a number of complaints about its approach: that the scheduled debates would take place too late in the process after early voting is already underway in many states, that its model is antiquated and geared towards “huge spectacles” rather than “good debates,” and that the commission was “unable or unwilling to enforce the rules” during those 2020 debates.
Specifically, Biden’s team did not see the point of traveling to a college campus in a random state chosen by the commission — Utah, Texas and Virginia were set to host this year’s debates, a selection that perplexed some aides to the president. But the most problematic aspect of the commission’s debate format was its need to have a live audience. One person familiar with the campaign’s thinking pointed to Trump’s 2023 CNN town hall with anchor KAITLAN COLLINS where the former president’s supporters packed the room, giving the back and forth a feeling more akin to a pro wrestling match.
That could be a potential sticking point for Trump, however. Although he agreed to the studio debates without an audience, he suggested in a Truth Social post that he prefers “more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue.”