DNC Chair Perez nixes 'undercard' debates for 2020 primary (poll, suspect, party)

[Spartacus713]

DNC Chairman Tom Perez has announced that the Democrats will host 12 debates, six in 2019 and six in 2020. They will split the candidates - currently estimated to possibly be 20 or more - randomly and not according to a first and second tier based on their poll numbers, the way that the RNC did in 2015-2016.

Perez nixes 'undercard' debates for 2020 primary

With the prospect of upwards of 20 Democrats running for president in 2020, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez announced on Thursday that the party would split up candidates by random selection and host debates on consecutive nights if there were too many candidates, opting not to try and fit them all on one stage or sort debate appearance by polling numbers.

Perez said he didn’t want any voters to feel that the party was toying with the debate or debate schedule to help out certain candidates. “The critical imperative is making sure everyone feels their candidate got a fair shot,” Perez said. He said that the logistics of dealing with so many candidates is a “first-class challenge to have.” The committee did not say how many candidates constituted too many for one stage.

The DNC Chairman also told reporters that the DNC would be hosting twelve debates during the 2020 primary with the first two being held in June and July of 2019. There will be a total of six in 2019 and six in 2020.

{More at the link}

I like this better and I do lean to the right. At the same time, I expect this could cause the Democrats some problems, in that it could empower marginal candidates to hang on longer than they would have with a first and second tier - with the second tier being derisively labeled as "The kiddie table". However, this seems like a fairer way to do this to me. If it works well for the Democrats this year, I suspect this method may well be adopted by the Republicans when they are up again in 2023-2024.

So, which do you think is a better way to do this? By random selection, or by tiers based on polling? Or, is there still another way?

[Ringo1]

Originally Posted by Spartacus713

DNC Chairman Tom Perez has announced that the Democrats will host 12 debates, six in 2019 and six in 2020. They will split the candidates - currently estimated to possibly be 20 or more - randomly and not according to a first and second tier based on their poll numbers, the way that the RNC did in 2015-2016.


I like this better and I do lean to the right. At the same time, I expect this could cause the Democrats some problems, in that it could empower marginal candidates to hang on longer than they would have with a first and second tier - with the second tier being derisively labeled as "The kiddie table". However, this seems like a fairer way to do this to me. If it works well for the Democrats this year, I suspect this method may well be adopted by the Republicans when they are up again in 2023-2024.

So, which do you think is a better way to do this? By random selection, or by tiers based on polling? Or, is there still another way?

Well, time will tell. I know I rarely watched the 'second tier' Republican debates so those guys didn't have a chance right off the bat.

OTOH - it could keep marginal candidates in the running too long, like you said.

We'll just have to see.