The Democrats may end their stretch without any presidential debates before the New York primary — if they can agree to terms.
Bernie Sanders first proposed the idea of a “hometown debate” in January. The Vermont senator is originally from Brooklyn and Hillary Clinton represented the state for eight years in the Senate. Four months later, neither campaign has been able to land on an exact date, and with the New York primary just three weeks away, time is getting short.
“I think this is typical in campaigns that you have a debate about the debate,” Democratic strategist Doug Thornell told the Washington Examiner. “New York is very important to both candidates. But this is something that voters don’t really care about.”
Last week, the Clinton campaign proposed debates on April 2 or April 4, two dates the Sanders campaign rejected because they fell on the nights of the NCAA Championship. The Sanders camp also countered that any New York debates should be held after the April 5 Wisconsin primary.
Clinton agreed to appear on a “Good Morning America” Democratic primary debate in New York next Monday, after several days of discussion with the Sanders campaign.
“I’ll be there. I think it’s a great opportunity to reach an audience that may not always be able because of other obligations to tune in to debates,” Clinton told host George Stephanopoulos on Monday morning.
She added that she also knows there is a debate in the works for April 14 and said, “I want to be there [and] I’m confident we can work out a time to do that.” While Sanders has yet to accept the debate, he expressed optimism on ABC’s “This Week” that these dates “will work out.”
Rather than dealing directly with each other, the two campaigns have been negotiating through a third party, the Democratic National Committee. In February, the DNC agreed to hold four sanctioned debates in addition to the six already scheduled. So far, the party has held debates in New Hampshire and Michigan, making New York the third of four added debates.
While the DNC did not comment on the status of the New York debate negotiations, DNC communication director Luis Miranda told the Washington Examiner that “we hope to conclude negotiations soon enough to allow our network partners five-seven days, enough time to build out a venue and an audience worthy of our candidates.”
Clinton currently has a double-digit lead over Sanders in New York, a margin her campaign hopes to widen before the April 19 primary. While Sanders waxes poetic about his youth in Brooklyn on the campaign trail and in debates, Clinton attempts to provide voters with concrete examples of her work in New York.
“Maybe they don’t want to have a debate. Why would Hillary want to be on the same stage as the guy who is behind her?” New York-based Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf told the Washington Examiner.
He added, “One thing is for sure: Debating Bernie Sanders in the media capital of the country elevates him to the same level as her in the state she’s supposed to do best in, why give him that opportunity?”
