After Cleveland Chaos, Debate Commission Is Making Changes

Biden campaign managers says he's going to show up in Miami, Nashville
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 30, 2020 4:42 PM CDT
Campaign: Biden's 'Going to Show Up' at Next Debate
Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News speaks on stage before the start of the first presidential debate Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020, at Case Western University and Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio.   (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

After the chaos in Cleveland Tuesday night, some Democrats have been calling for Joe Biden to skip the next two debates with President Trump, who ignored moderator Chris Wallace's pleas to stick to the agreed-upon rules and stop interrupting his opponent. But Biden's campaign says he's definitely going to show up in Miami and Nashville—and the Commission on Presidential Debates says there will be some changes. In a statement Wednesday, the CPD said the Tuesday debate made it clear that "additional structure" should be added to the remaining debate to "ensure a more orderly discussion." The commission thanked Wallace for the "professionalism and skill" he brought to the debate.

The debate commission said it is "carefully considering" the changes and will announce them soon. Kate Bedingfield, Biden's deputy campaign manager, said Tuesday night that Biden will definitely be at the Oct. 15 debate in Miami, the Tampa Bay Times reports. In that debate, the candidates will take questions from voters, and Bedingfield said it will be up to Trump whether he wants to repeat his "unhinged meltdown." Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh slammed the nonpartisan commission, saying it was only looking at changes "because their guy got pummeled last night." He accused Biden of "trying to work the refs," adding: "They shouldn’t be moving the goalposts and changing the rules in the middle of the game." (More presidential debate stories.)

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