The campaigns of Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders clashed over whether the candidates should be seated at the next debate.
Sanders wants to stand, and his campaign accused Biden of wanting to sit down, according to Politico.
The format of Sunday’s debate in Arizona would have the candidates seated for the first time in a debate this election cycle. In the last 10 debates, the candidates stood behind lecterns.
The candidates will also take multiple questions from members of the audience.
“Why does Joe Biden not want to stand toe-to-toe with Sen. Sanders on the debate stage March 15 and have an opportunity to defend his record and articulate his vision for the future?” asked Jeff Weaver, a senior adviser to Sanders.
Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee said the format of the debate was determined by the party and CNN, the network moderating the event.
“We will participate in whatever debate CNN chooses to stage: standing, sitting, at podiums, or in a town hall,” Biden’s deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said. “The problem for the Sanders campaign is not the staging of the debate, but rather, the weakness of Sen. Sanders’s record and ideas.”
Bedingfield said the Biden campaign “agreed to the format that CNN proposed on a joint call with the campaigns” on Friday. After Sanders protested the format, Bedingfield said, the Biden “campaign agreed to a modification of that format that CNN proposed, to compromise with both campaigns.”
The accusations unfurled as both candidates face questions about their ages and health. Republicans have raised concerns about 77-year-old Biden’s mental acuity as he frequently stumbles over his words on the campaign trail. Sanders, 78, had a heart attack late last year.
Both campaigns said they were not questioning the other candidate’s health in the discussion over whether to sit or stand.
