Yet the schedule was determined by the Commission last year, as it always is before presidential election years.
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“I’ll tell you what I don’t like”. But I respect the right of others, including my husband, to enjoy it. So let’s focus on the HUGE conflict these games will present for the debate audience. Perhaps the league reached out to The Commission on Presidential Debates to get something done about those dates (McCarthy’s tweet is vague on that), but we’re not aware of that. When they communicate with the nominees and they have contract put together, and we choose the moderators and we choose the networks that are going to be in charge of these debates, that to me is the time when all of this gets set.
Trump on Friday accused Clinton of rigging the debates so that two coincide with National Football League games. This year’s National Football League schedule was announced in April 2016.
An NFL spokesman said Saturday: ‘While we’d obviously wish the debate commission could find another night, we did not send a letter to Trump’. We want as many people to be participants and be involved in the presidential debate process as possible.
When asked directly whether Trump would participate in the debates, his campaign manager, Paul Manafort, said the Republican candidate “wants to participate” but also seeks “the maximum audience”. “I don’t know how the dates are picked”.
STELTER: It’s not semantics if you send me a letter versus make a phone call.
Trump had previously done eleven of the twelve debates during the Republican Party presidential primary. ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” last season averaged close to 13 million viewers while NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” has been the most-watched prime time program for several years and last season averaged more than 21 million viewers.
“We’re going to sit down with the commissioner and talk with them”, he said. On both nights, baseball playoff games also aired – TBS and TNT on Oct. 11 and FOX on Oct. 22; FOX did not air the Oct. 22 debate. ‘Cause the debates are gonna be pretty massive, from what I understand, Okay?
“CPD believes the dates for the 2016 debates will serve the American public well”.
‘The CPD did not consult with any political parties or campaigns in making these decisions, ‘ the commission said in a statement issued Saturday. In 2012, one of the three debates was held on a Monday night, and went up against a “Monday Night Football” game between the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears. The second presidential debate on October 9 would be up against a game between the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants.
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Donald Trump’s campaign will begin a push this week to reschedule the presidential debates set for this fall, but the Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonpartisan group responsible for scheduling, is standing firm for now. Fridays and Saturdays are effectively ruled out because TV viewing is lower on weekend evenings.
