Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. speaks in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
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Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is supportive of the calendar.
Craig Crawford, spokesman for former Sen.
“We are thrilled to announce the schedule and locations for our Democratic primary debates”, said DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in a statement.
Vice President Biden is also reportedly considering a bid. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss private conversations.
CNN’s is the first of six planned that the Democratic Party announced Thursday.
The DNC has taking tighter control of the process this cycle, after the number of debates ballooned to around two dozen in 2008. There are only two debates scheduled after the critical Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primaries in February 2016.
While Republicans are getting ready for their first presidential debate, Democrats are busy debating how many they should have.
After the opener (the party did not specify whether it would be in Las Vegas or Reno), the next debate will be November. 19 in Des Moines, Iowa. O’Malley and Sanders were calling for more, while Clinton’s camp allegedly lobbied for fewer than six, according to Politico. That support is down about 10 points from a year ago – giving some hope to challengers, particularly Sanders who has seen his support double to just over 20 percent since he announced his candidacy in May.
“The party is incredibly excited that we’re going to host our next Democratic president here in Wisconsin”, said Melissa Baldauff, communications director for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. At a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the former Maryland Gov. called DNC leaders a “small cabal” saying that DNC intervention in the debates was like “circling a wagon” to “close off the debates”. But while Republicans are hosting their first debate in the important general election swing state of Ohio, the Democrats are headed to the early primary states. But Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman, has said that candidates will have to meet a certain “threshold” to participate in the debates, though she did not specify what criteria, such as polling, would be used.
“This isn’t about the Clintons or the O’Malleys-this is about our country”, he said.
“She prides herself in doing very properly in debates”, stated her chief strategist Joel Benenson. “It’s a good opportunity to get attention on issues that are front and center in the lives of Americans”.
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It’s hard to be a Democrat with ambition, unless you’re Hillary Clinton.
