http://www.wsj.com/articles/republican-national-committee-replaces-debate-chief-1446427008POLITICS
GOP Presidential Candidates Seek to Regain Control Over DebatesRepublican National Committee replaced official in charge of debates but it wasn’t enough to quell candidates’ concerns
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, center, speaks as Carly Fiorina, left, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie listen during the CNBC Republican presidential debate at the University of Colorado in Boulder on Oct. 28.
PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
By REID J. EPSTEIN And REBECCA BALLHAUS
Updated Nov. 1, 2015 9:42 p.m. ET
32 COMMENTS
The Republican National Committee tried to fend off a mutiny among the presidential candidates by replacing the official in charge of the party’s debates, but the move didn’t quell the candidates’ concerns.
Representatives from most of the Republican presidential campaigns agreed during a meeting at a suburban Washington hotel to take back control of the debates. This was the first year that the RNC had tried coordinating the debates, a job that historically had been handled by campaign staff. On Sunday, the campaign representatives agreed to remove the RNC as the middleman negotiating on their behalf with the networks, according to several participants in the meeting.
Among the campaigns’ demands: Earlier notice about debate format and moderators. One example cited by a campaign representative at the meeting was that CNBC didn’t inform the candidates it would conduct a “lightning round” during last Wednesday’s debate. The campaigns also want the networks airing the debates to agree to minute-long opening statements, preapproval over some on-screen graphics during the debates, and an equal number of questions for each candidate.
“We agreed that we would like the campaigns to negotiate with the networks on the format going forward and continue to have the RNC help with logistics,” said Christian Ferry, the campaign manager for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.). “There was broad agreement about some key format issues, including the desire for opening and closing statements, parity of number of questions and approval of screen graphics.”
A letter listing the campaigns’ demands will be sent to the networks within the next 48 hours, a meeting participant said.
The campaigns’ meeting came after the RNC removed Sean Spicer, who spent most of the last year as the party’s point man for the debates, from that role. Mr. Spicer will remain as the party’s chief strategist and lead spokesman.
Sean Cairncross, an attorney for the RNC and the party’s chief operating officer, will be the new debate coordinator, according to a memo sent to the candidates’ campaigns by Katie Walsh, the party’s chief of staff, and obtained by The Wall Street Journal.
Republicans’ complaints began after the first debate in August, hosted by Fox News. Front-runner Donald Trump complained that moderator Megyn Kelly, who had among other questions asked the real-estate mogul whether comments he had made about women were befitting a presidential candidate, had treated him unfairly. Mr. Trump demanded that Ms. Kelly apologize to him but instead faced criticism for suggesting that she had “blood coming out of her wherever.”
The candidates and their campaign staff have also been frustrated over the lack of time to prepare for the debates, often learning about the format, such as time limits on responses to questions, just days in advance of the contests. Republican presidential candidates were incensed last week over CNBC’s handling of the third primary debate, saying the questions were biased and insulting. During the debate, Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) accused the moderators of being part of the “liberal media,” a denunciation echoed later in the session by Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.). CNBC moderators have defended the network’s handling of the debate.
There was no agreement on whether to include low-polling candidates in the first-tier debates. Mr. Graham, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson have pushed to allow all the candidates on stage at once. First-tier candidates have rejected those proposals.
The next debate, on Nov. 10 in Milwaukee, will be sponsored by Fox Business Network and The Wall Street Journal.
In a nod to the candidates’ outrage over the CNBC debate questions, the RNC said last week it was stripping NBC as the corporate partner for a scheduled February debate. Jeb Bush’s representatives sought to reinstate Telemundo, NBC’s Spanish-language network, as a partner for that debate, but the proposal was vetoed by Donald Trump’s campaign, which threatened to boycott the event.
Ms. Walsh said in the memo that she, not Mr. Spicer, would be the candidates’ point of contact within the party on future debates.
“The RNC’s goal is to provide the candidates with the best possible platform and stage to share their vision for America,” Ms. Walsh wrote. “We simply cannot have the disastrous process that happened in 2012 or a repeat of last week.”
Mr. Spicer was supportive of the party’s moves, saying they would help its presidential candidates in the debate process.
“Last week’s debate was a debacle,” Mr. Spicer said Sunday night. “We need to ensure that the format and the logistics of the debate and ensure that the candidates have the best opportunity to have their voices heard. The changes were proposing further that goal.”
Write to Reid J. Epstein at Reid.Epstein@wsj.com and Rebecca Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com
