Carson Camp To Rally Candidates To Confront RNC Over Debate Formats

Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson speaks during a town hall meeting, Friday, Oct. 2, 2015, in Ankeny, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

The Republican candidates were quick to criticize the CNBC moderators after Wednesday night’s Republican presidential debate, but some are now looking to the Republican National Committee to make changes in the future.

Ben Carson’s campaign manager, Barry Bennett, told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday night that he plans on contacting other campaigns about issues with the debate formats.

“I think the families need to get together here, because these debates as structured by the RNC are not helping the party,” Bennett told the Examiner. “There’s not enough time to talk about your plans, there’s no presentation. It’s just a slugfest. All we do is change moderators. And the trendline is horrific. So I think there needs to be wholesale change here.”

Bennett said he plans on calling campaign representatives for Carly Fiorina and Donald Trump in an effort to rally a few campaigns to confront the Republican National Committee.

“I think at this point, if five or six of us get together, who generate the largest portion of the audience, we can force change,” he said.

Candidate unhappiness about the debate formats has been brewing for a while. Ahead of the CNBC debate, Carson and Trump threatened to back out of the debate unless the network enforced a time limit and allowed opening and closing statements. Before the threat from the two current frontrunners, numerous campaigns complained to the RNC about the format in a chaotic phone call.

And just before the debate, several candidates made a fuss over the size of their green rooms at the venue for the CNBC debate.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. I suggest, so that the meeting won’t get out of hand, that some sort of token be passed around and the person holding it might be the one to speak. As for the token - I hear conch shells are popular.

  2. There’s ten of you idiots fighting over the same four, make that, two hours.
    Not that there’s any substance anyway, but jeez louise.

  3. Dude(tte)s, as the saying goes: “You can’t FIX stupid.” It is what it is – just accept yourselves for who you are.

  4. “I think the families need to get together here, because these debates as structured by the RNC are not helping the party,” Bennett told the Examiner.

    “the families”?? What is this, the fucking Mafia?

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

76 more replies

Participants

Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for dv01 Avatar for imkmu3 Avatar for humpback Avatar for cwazycajun Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for squirreltown Avatar for poorcitizen Avatar for mcbain Avatar for mantan Avatar for chelsea530 Avatar for daveyjones64 Avatar for livi_o Avatar for bigbraxstone Avatar for kdnicewanger Avatar for captaincommonsense Avatar for dnl Avatar for occamsrazor2 Avatar for beattycat Avatar for lm945 Avatar for chicago11 Avatar for pmaroneyb Avatar for boisdevache Avatar for ken_t

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: