The DNC is short-changing voters
“I’m a Republican, but… Are you serious?”
It has come up more than once that the chair of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz of Florida, is actively working to ensure that Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee.
As Republican candidates travel all over Iowa attending events and dinners for groups like FreedomWorks, the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, and the Family Leader, voters can go to one event and see seven or eight candidates at one time. This allows voters to easily access a large group of candidates in a face-to-face environment without having to go to many events. The DNC has disallowed liberal groups from holding these “cattle call” events.
The RNC is holding 12 debates, as opposed to the DNC’s six. The number of official debates isn’t necessarily the issue, though. For me, it’s important to also look at when they are and how likely people are to watch on those dates.
The RNC chooses to hold its debates mostly on weeknights when people are likely to be home and during weeks when voters are likely to be paying attention. The DNC is hosting debates that take place on weekends, when people are likely to be out, and during weeks where voters are preoccupied with larger goings-on. The last Democratic debate, for example, was less than a week before Christmas and the next Democratic debate is the Sunday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Yet none of this is still the biggest problem I see.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, voiced that there should be more opportunities for the Democratic candidates to debate after chairwoman Wasserman-Schultz announced there would be only six. The congresswoman from Hawaii’s ticket to the first Democratic debate was revoked, and she was offered a ticket to the debate though the Sander’s campaign.
So what does all of this mean? The head of the DNC wants to narrow voter information as much as possible so that voters make their decisions based mostly on name recognition. Which clearly points to a Clinton nomination.
At the end of the day as a Republican, the Democratic nominee is just a campaign to work against. But for my friends that are Democrats and for the good of the electoral system in the U.S., Democratic voters should be outraged by what the DNC is trying to do by limiting the number of debates, the likely viewership, and silencing voices who dissent.
