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. |
Connings Food Market to take over Nelson site deemed not financially viable for affordable housingHong Kong denies entry to campaigner en route to Jimmy Lai trial — Radio Free AsiaFive rescued after yacht runs aground on Banks PeninsulaClimate activists demand Christchurch include cruise ship emissions in targetsClimate activists demand Christchurch include cruise ship emissions in targetsSingapore minister Iswaran charged in rare corruption caseFormer Pakistan PM Imran Khan gets 10Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters to resume 'Pacific reset' plan againJulian Assange too ill to attend as court hears of 'breathtaking' plot to poison himSevere heatwave in eastern Australia to bring hottest weather in four years to NSW