Hillary Clinton’s grasp on the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination seems unbreakable, but the party’s national committee is still getting ready to release details of a televised primary debate schedule.
The Republican National Committee released its own primary debate schedule in January, before any candidate on that side officially declared their campaigns. But it was evident then that there would be at least five candidates vying for the GOP nomination. There are now three official ones: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. The Republican field is expected to become far more crowded by the January start of primary season.
The Democratic National Committee is facing the opposite problem, but it is still preparing for an active debate season. Clinton, a former first lady, secretary of state, and U.S. senator from New York, outpolls all her likely challengers by at least 40 percentage points.
“We expect there will be multiple candidates for the Democratic nomination, and so we are actively planning for a primary debate schedule,” Mo Elleithee, communications director for the DNC, told the Washington Examiner media desk. “We should be making some announcements about our fall debate schedule in the coming weeks.”
Clinton on Sunday became the first Democrat to declare her candidacy.
Other potential candidates include former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, former Sen. Jim Webb and Vice President Joe Biden.
The Clinton campaign and spokespeople for O’Malley and Webb did not return requests for comment.
But the longer those candidates wait to announce, the more of a crunch the DNC will be in to finalize plans with news networks that intend to host any debates.
Some campaign watchers have been critical of the lack of competition on the Democratic side, which could produce a nominee untested by a substantial primary debate process. (Clinton competed for the nomination in 2008 against then-Sen. Barack Obama, winning 21 states including Florida, Texas, California, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and even beating Obama in total popular votes for the primary cycle.)
“In order to have a debate you have to have more than one candidate, and to have a debate that will command public attention you need a real contest,” the Los Angeles Times editorial board — which in 2008 urged Clinton to drop out of the race to make way for Obama — wrote on Sunday. “[H]er party and the electorate at large would be better off if she had to defend and define her candidacy in the crucible of a truly competitive race. And she might be a better candidate as a result.”
