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. |
Premier League & NBC Sports execs in talks to potentially hold 39th league fixture in the USBillie Eilish announces 81Raúl Ruidíaz scores two goals and the Sounders beat the Union 3The Islamic State group says it was behind a mosque bombing in Afghanistan that killed 6 peopleClosing prices for crude oil, gold and other commoditiesBrad Pitt's girlfriend Ines De Ramon takes a stroll with male pal in LATori Spelling, 50, would 'love to have another baby'Google and Apple now threatened by the US antitrust laws helped build their technology empiresPhones, Islamic books and currency exchange. Some businesses are making money out of Taliban ruleAbreu and Criswell lead Red Sox to 4