GOP Debate Issues

For John, BLUF:  Do Republicans trust anyone in the Mainstream Media, given its "left leaning" tilt?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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"How the RNC squashed its only conservative-media debate".

The article is from Politico and Reporters Hadas Gold and Shane Goldmacher.  So, you know there is a lot of gold in this article.

Here is the heard of the story:

But what really changed the game, according to the Times’ Solomon and others involved in the process, was the CNBC debate on Oct. 28 — a forum whose format, questions and moderators infuriated the Republican campaigns so much that candidates began to move against the RNC.

After that debate, a widely panned event marked by contentious questions that angered the candidates, the campaigns took the unprecedented step of holding multiple meetings among themselves and drafting a never-sent letter of demands for future debate hosts as they tried to take control of the debate process out of the party’s hands.

Suddenly, the RNC was no longer talking about a grass-roots debate.  It was consumed by the effort to calm its 2016 field and retain its lead role in the debate process.  And less than a week after the CNBC debate, RNC chief operating officer Sean Cairncross was made the lead point person on all future debates, moving Spicer out of the role.

“After that, I was told the RNC’s tolerance for risk-taking was lower, even though they loved the idea of a grass-roots debate,” Solomon said.

At the same time, Fox Business Network had been lobbying the RNC for another debate, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations.  After the network’s successful first turn at hosting a forum on Nov. 10, the RNC agreed to let the Fox family take on another.  By late November, the deal was done.

The RNC announced on Dec. 8 that Fox Business would host a Jan. 14 debate, putting the final nail in the coffin of the conservative-media debate planned for Liberty University.

It was pretty clear that the CNBC conducted debate did not make CNBC more popular with the Republican Candidates.  And there has been contention between the Candidates and the National Committee.  I think an important note was "tolerance for risk-taking was lower".  The Republicans are in uncharted territory and the stakes are high, so risk taking is being minimized.  The problem is that there are risks in many directions.

Hat tip to the Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff