Not satisfied with bullying the national media, Republican presidential hopefuls are making a grab for power from the Republican National Committee.
Politico is reporting in an exclusive article that the “Republican presidential campaigns are planning to gather in Washington, D.C., on Sunday evening to plot how to alter their party’s messy debate process — and how to remove power from the hands of the Republican National Committee.”
Last Thursday, several of the presidential campaigns told Politico that representatives from the Republican National Committee (RNC) were specifically excluded from the meeting after it failed to adequately address their concerns leading up to the controversy surrounding CNBC’s debate in Boulder, Colorado last week.
According to the Politico report, “It was time, top aides to at least half a dozen of the candidates agreed, to begin discussing among themselves how the next debates should be structured and not leave it up to the RNC and television networks.”
Multiple sources involved in Sunday’s meeting told Politico that the gathering is being organized by advisers to the campaigns of Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Lindsey Graham and Bobby Jindal.
Planners continue reaching out to other presidential campaigns and, so far, representatives for Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Rick Santorum are expected to attend.
Various personal agendas are expected to play out during the meeting as the candidates themselves share a litany of complaints regarding the debates. As Politico is reporting, Jeb Bush and Rand Paul are complaining about “unequal speaking time,” while others “have complained bitterly about how polling is used to determine who qualifies” for the debates. There are also questions regarding debate format with several candidates insisting on giving opening and closing statements instead of spending time debating policy as the networks desire.
Carson’s campaign advised Politico that his staff has been instructed to contact other campaigns for proposed format changes, but did not discuss specifics.
Carson’s campaign manager, Barry Bennett, told the Washington Examiner that: “I think the families need to get together here, because these debates as structured by the RNC are not helping the party. 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.”
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