Martin O'Malley accuses DNC of favoring Hillary Clinton.

[elleng]

Martin O'Malley . . . accused the DNC Wednesday of tipping the scales in HRC's favor by limiting the number of debates to six. . .

'I want to say right off the bat here, that those in Washington who think they can limit the number of debates, . . ., they're going to have another thing(k) coming when they talk to the people of Iowa.'

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/08/05/martin-omalley-accuses-d-n-c-of-favoring-hillary-clinton/?_r=0

[Eleanors38]

1. You think?

[msongs]

2. if sanders and omalley want debates, nobody is stopping them from debating each other...or adding

webb and chaffee. rent a hall and go for it

[askew]

4. Wrong.

If any candidate appears onstage with another candidate, they are banned from participating in DNC sanctioned debates. It's the exclusivity clause and this is the first time it has ever been included in the debate rules for the Democratic nomination.

[Raine1967]

3. I wish I could disagree, but by all evidence, I agree.

I don't mind having fewer debates than we had in 2008. What I don't like is the rigidity of the rules and the lack of wiggle room.

Having said that, I was not fond of the Sanders suggestion to debate the GOP as a nominee.

This article was posted in GDP, and I am really not fond that DWS took a play from the GOP.

So this cycle, determined to put a lid on the process, Democrats took an idea from the Republicans, who had announced there would be penalties on their candidates if they went outside the Republican National Committee’s sanctioned debates. If Sanders or O’Malley tries to test the DNC, they would risk getting aced out of the other debates. Ditto for a media outlet that tried to mount something separate on the side, as they would risk losing Hillary Clinton as a contender.

One thing is sure, Clinton is going to follow the rules; she won’t do more than the six debates. And the networks understand the DNC has control of the process because Hillary is on board with the plan and she’s not going to show up for any debates that are not sanctioned.

Forums are allowed because they’re more of a cattle call. All five Democratic candidates will be speaking at the DNC summer meeting in Minneapolis on August 28th, but they won’t be sharing a stage.

The DNC will also announce this week uniform criteria for inclusion in the debates. Democrats aren’t concerned about the number of candidates as they don’t have that many. But they want to head off what happened in ’07 and ’08, when debate hosts changed the rules from debate to debate.

The result was former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel, the first in the field to announce for president, being allowed into several debates. He quickly achieved notoriety for his anti-war position and curmudgeonly demeanor. Then, after failing to exceed 1 percent in the polls, he was barred from debating.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/03/dems-to-set-debate-schedule-this-week.html

The entire article is worth a read. I suspect that O'MAlley read it as well.

[askew]

5. There was a great article on this in Des Moines Register as well.

This is going to get attention in Iowa that is for sure.

If anyone is interested, I posted a diary at Daily Kos on this - http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/06/1409182/-O-Malley-Unloads-on-DNC-Limiting-Debates

[elleng]

6. Just posted one from The Hill,

GLOVES are OFF! THANKS for D Kos!!!

[askew]

7. Yep. I hope Sanders backs O'Malley up on this.

But, I am guessing O'Malley will be out there on his own and Sanders will take the "high road".

[Aerows]

8. That isn't an accusation

that's stating a fact LOL.