The End of the Commission on Presidential Debates is a Pretty Big Deal
In a rapid-fire series of events today, the bipartisan and non-profit Commission on Presidential Debates was erased from significance.
This morning, President Joe Biden challenged Donald Trump to two debates anytime, anywhere. And within minutes, Biden and Trump had both accepted a debate at CNN on June 27th and on ABC on September 10th.
The idea, incidentally, that there will be a General Election Debate before Independence Day truly makes me want to rip my hair out, but I digress.
The idea that the candidates would agree on a debate and CNN would agree to host it within hours after the Biden Announcement tells you everything you need to know about how this came about. Kayfabe is real, y’all.
All of this was done without the involvement of the Commission on Presidential Debates. And this outcome was seemingly set in motion after the multiple debacles of the 2020 Presidential Debates between Biden and Trump, and reaffirmed when the Republican National Committee voted to prohibit their candidate from participating in a 2022 vote.
The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) was established in 1987 to ensure, for the benefit of the American electorate, that general election debates between or among the leading candidates for the offices of President and Vice President of the United States are a permanent part of the electoral process. CPD’s primary purpose is to sponsor and produce the quadrennial general election debates and to undertake research and educational activities relating to the debates. The organization, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) corporation, sponsored all of the presidential debates in 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020.
What’s left unsaid is the fact that the CPD was created by the two major parties for the two major parties and for the practical exclusion of any independent or third-party candidates from appearing on stage. That Ross Perot actually did make the debate stage in 1992 was a novelty and an exception rather than the rule.
The problems with the CPD were apparent long before the issues in 2020. The Debates were less about the two candidates debating each other and more about getting in neat soundbites and yelling over each other.
There is a reason that The West Wing episode “The Debate” resonates with so many people. Because we never actually get any debates at the Presidential level. One of the reasons was that the CPD insisted upon ridiculous rules put into place to keep either candidate from looking too bad (at least, without a near herculean effort of incompetence).
Will we see a real debate on ABC or CNN? Probably not, no. The two campaigns will likely agree upon the same or a similar set of rules to the CPD debates, as much due to the advanced age and mental decline of the two candidates as much as anything else. But the fact that the two campaigns agreed to go outside of the system as it was currently constructed is a monumental day for politics and the end of the road for the Commission on Presidential Debates.
We don’t know if the 2024 debates will be an improvement or not. But we do not that the Commission on Presidential Debates won’t be involved in that going forward…