Liam Conner
Two presidential debates were announced — without the involvement of the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) — placing the CPD in a rare and potentially dangerous void of irrelevance.
Commission co-chair Frank Fahrenkopf, a 33-year veteran presidential and vice-presidential clashes, is not convinced that President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will proceed with the debates announced for June 27 on CNN and September 10 on ABC. CBS News proposed a vice presidential debate which Kamala Harris accepted. Trump, who does not yet have a running mate, has not yet accepted this debate.
“There are a lot of things that need to be resolved,” Fahrenkopf told CBS News on this week’s episode of “The Takeout.” “There are a lot of issues… that I know of that haven’t been resolved yet. This could stop that from happening.”
Fahrenkopf, who, outside of the Biden and Trump campaigns, is possibly the most interested observer of the debate agenda and machinations, listed some unresolved issues: drug tests (Trump has said he will “demand” one of Biden); whether candidates will be seated at a table or behind podiums; opening statements; length of response/rebuttal time; and commercial breaks (debates sponsored by the commission lasted 90 uninterrupted minutes).
Eager to share the history of the debate commission, Fahrenkopf said that disputes over issues like these came close to paralyzing debates before the commission was formed in 1987.
“That’s the reason we were created,” Fahrenkopf said. “The story of two campaigns sitting around and arguing and arguing and arguing. Remember – we went 16 years without debates. Little things can get in the way. I don’t know if that’s true here, but there are a lot of things.”
O first televised presidential debate took place in 1960 at the Chicago studio of CBS News station WBBM and was moderated by CBS News anchor Howard K. Smith, along with a panel that included journalists from ABC and NBC News. It was a ratings sensation and the lore of the campaign was that Republican Party nominee and then-Vice President Richard Nixon lost ground to the Democratic nominee, Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy.
After Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Lyndon Johnson refused to debate in 1964. Impressed by his experience in 1960, Nixon refused to debate in 1968 and 1972. In 1976, President Gerald Ford, who succeeded Nixon after his resignation, agreed to debate the Democratic candidate, former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter. The League of Women Voters sponsored debates that year and throughout 1984, when, following two academic studies that recommended a nonpartisan commission to oversee the debates, the Commission on Presidential Debates was formed.
Fahrenkopf, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, was one of the original founders, along with then-chairman of the Democratic National Committee Paul Kirk.
Although he has now arrived in a new and uncomfortable political wilderness, Fahrenkopf said the commission is not dead — at least not yet.
“Absolutely not,” Fahrenkopf said. “We are now organizing ourselves, completing our planning and so on. We have to wait and see what happens. My instinct tells me we can have a future. It’s best if we stay here.”
Fahrenkopf knows the commission is seen as an anachronism and has absorbed scathing criticism from both Trump — who accused the commission of being biased against Republicans — and close advisers to Biden, who consider the commission’s procedures antiquated and demanding.
But Fahrenkopf withdrew his harshest criticism of the White House’s top communications adviser, Anita Dunn, when he said Politico Deep Dive Podcast that Dunn “hates” the commission and was the reason Biden’s team bypassed it to negotiate with the Trump campaign.
“Yes, maybe I spoke a little harshly,” Fahrenkopf told CBS News. “She doesn’t like us. Let’s just say maybe I was a little too strong.”
He admitted that the commission’s days may be numbered.
“We hope to know in the next few weeks whether things will actually happen or not,” Fahrenkopf said.
Asked if the 4th of July weekend could be a deadline for the commission to know if it has a future in these elections, Fahrenkopf said yes.
“If there’s no commitment to the commission by July 4, then it probably won’t happen.”
Confronting that reality in a way he never has before, Fahrenkopf said something would be lost if the debates fell to individual TV networks with smaller audiences. Commission debates have traditionally been held across all networks, without commercial breaks or glaring promotional overlays and constant negotiations over format, moderators, locations and a myriad of other issues. This year, the cable and broadcast networks hosting the debates, CNN and ABC, offered to allow all networks to simultaneously broadcast the debates.
“I think it’s become part of the tradition of how we elect the people who lead our country as president and vice president,” Fahrenkopf said of the commission’s debates. “I would hate to see that go away too.”
Fahrenkopf was asked if he was rooting for the announced debates to fall apart.
“No, that’s not true. I can’t say that.”
Fahrenkopf added, “If they can be successful with these two debates that they’re planning, if they’re done well (and) educate the American people, I’ll salute them. The only reason we exist is to make sure the debates happen.”
However, he added: “If they crash and burn, we will still be there and hopefully we can fill the void.”
Executive producer: Arden Farhi
Producers: Jamie Benson, Jacob Rosen, Sara Cook and Eleanor Watson
CBSN Production: Eric Soussanin
Show email: TakeoutPodcast@cbsnews.com
Twitter: @TakeoutPodcast
Instagram: @TakeoutPodcast
Facebook: Facebook.com/TakeoutPodcast
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