Ken Berwitz
The bounce Carly Fiorina received from last week\’spresidential debate has undoubtedly left many of her fellow candidates feelingjealous – and not just Republicans. Most of the Democrats trying to gaintraction against Hillary Clinton are demanding more debates in hopes of raisingtheir public profiles, too. By refusing, the Democratic National Committee notonly hurts those candidates, but also denies voters the chance to see a fairfight for the nomination.
The first of four Democraticdebates before voting begins will not take place until mid-October – and threeof them are on weekends. If the Democratic Party were trying to keep theaudience to a minimum, it could hardly have drawn up a better plan. Equallytroubling, candidates who participate in any debate not sanctioned by the DNCforfeit their right to join the official debates. Why would a party want tomuzzle its candidates this way?
It doesn\’t take a cynic to believe that the DNChas the Clinton\’s campaign\’s best interests in mind. Front-runners almostalways prefer to minimize the number of debates and their viewers, and the DNCchairwoman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, was co-chair of Clinton\’s 2008presidential campaign. Martin O\’Malley has accused her of rigging the scheduleand the rules in Clinton\’s favor, and it\’s hard not to sympathize with him.
Clinton says she\’s open to more debates. Yet she refuses tocall for them, saying it\’s the DNC\’s decision – as though her campaign holds nosway with the party.
