OK I'll just say it: the dem establishment wants to lose this election

[Gloria]

123. No...it allows the GOP to make asses of themselves

and not get the Dems tied up into it at this point.

Really, it's about spending resources (limited) and getting a clean start... right now, until the holidays, the attention is on the jerks in the GOP while the Dems go about their business...

We will have a better idea of who to fight against as the Republicans eat their own....Maybe by November.

Sanders has plenty of media exposure, stop that victim stuff. He is doing fine with media exposure. He will be on a cover.
You may want to NOT have tons of media exposure at this point, because it may NOT work in your favor.

I'm not even that worried about where and what time the debates are...because, the media picks up all this a does its own thing anyway. There is plenty of direct messaging the Dems will be doing. Also, infighting at this point among the Dem candidates may be counterproductive. They agree on so many issues that the fine points will be lost anyway in the machine and the holidays....

There is no easy answer to all this. The Rethugs have tons of money and lousy candidates....They are totally nuts. The more they sit there on the stage railing about religion, war, etc. the stranger they seem.