‘Morning Joe’ Rule: No Campaign Staffers Until Candidate Comes On

A “Morning Joe” rule — that no staffers or spokespersons can come on the show until the candidate appears on the morning news program – was a response to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign, according to a Tuesday report in Politico.

“The rule was put in place for Hillary’s campaign because while just about every other candidate came on, the Clinton team kept trying to put out surrogates and staffers,” “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough told Politico. “We finally said ‘not until the candidate comes on herself.’ And then some suggested we have Jeb (Bush’s) people on a month or so ago, but we held to the same policy.”

Bush went on the MSNBC talk show last week. But Clinton, and a handful of Republican presidential candidates that include retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) have not appeared and cannot have representation on the show until they do so, according to the report.

Scarborough said that Clinton has agreed to appear on the show, though an exact date had not yet been set. The Rubio campaign declined to comment to Politico and both Kasich and Carson didn’t return its requests for comment.