Another important primary is coming up in the presidential race. On April 19, New York Democrats and Republicans will vote in their state’s primary. Before that, the Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders really want to debate, if only the other side will get it together!
According to CNN, the Clinton campaign is expressing frustration over the Sanders campaign rejecting three possible dates. Sanders has countered that the first proposal, April 4, made no sense, because it interfered with March Madness (read: no one would watch), and April 15th on Good Morning America was also illogical, because who would be watching such a thing so early in the morning? April 14th might not work either, Sanders said, because he wanted to schedule a large campaign rally then.
Either way, both campaigns are confident that they’ll debate before April 19th, with Clinton saying on Meet The Press, “I do know my campaign has really been trying to get a time that Sen. Sanders’ campaign would agree with.”
Around 6:30 in the CNN clip above, Sanders addresses the debate schedule negotiations: “I’m confident we’ll work out a time that’s good for both of our schedules and when large numbers of people will be watching.” When CNN host Jake Tapper asked Sanders if Clinton deliberately picked a date where few people would be watching, Sanders deflected the question, but mentioned that past debates had an issue of low viewership. As a result, he hopes to avoid that problem this time.
It’s been a while since Sanders and Clinton last debated. There’s even been speculation that Clinton was avoiding another showdown, but both candidates seem at least outwardly eager to return to the podium. Stay tuned for a date that they actually agree on.
(via CNN)