PHOENIX (AP) — The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which has planned presidential faceoffs in every election since 1988, has an uncertain future after President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump struck an agreement to meet on their own.
The Biden and Trump campaigns announced a deal Wednesday to meet for debates in June on CNN and September on ABC. Just a day earlier, Frank Fahrenkopf, chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates, had sounded optimistic that the candidates would eventually come around to accepting the commission’s debates.
“There’s no way you can force anyone to debate,” Fahrenkopf said in a virtual meeting of supporters of No Labels, which has continued as an advocacy group after it abandoned plans for a third-party presidential ticket. But he noted candidates have repeatedly toyed with skipping debates or finding alternatives before eventually showing up, though one was canceled in 2020 when Trump refused to appear virtually after he contracted COVID-19.
Red Lobster seeks bankruptcy protection after closing some restaurants
He's out! Monty Panesar pulls stumps on his bid to become an MP for George Galloway's party as ex
Man United vs Arsenal: Why Arteta's success could be a blueprint for United
College baseball notebook: Conference tournaments to decide NCAA automatic bids and many at
India says Canada yet to provide evidence of its involvement in the killing of a separatist leader
Justin Timberlake set to bring his The Forget Tomorrow World Tour to Australia in 2025
West Midlands mayoral hopeful in fake video row over 'racist teacher'
Kosovo prepares a new draft law on renting prison cells to Denmark after the first proposal failed
Guns are being stolen from cars at triple the rate they were 10 years ago, a report finds