NOVEMBER 3, 2015
The Republican candidates for President are revolting.
No, seriously, they’re in total revolt mode. They are so angry at the way they felt treated by the moderators at Wednesday’s CNBC debate that, in a rare moment of unanimity, representatives of all the major campaigns (save Carly Fiorina’s) secretly met at a Virginia hotel on Sunday night to draw up a list of demands for the debates scheduled from December onward. And Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee and commissioner of all things pertaining to GOP debates, was pointedly not invited.
Priebus, whose RNC drew up the rules and chose the networks for the debates, was suddenly impotent and had to make the rounds of the morning news shows trying to reassure voters that there’s nothing to see here. Watching him flail reminded me of Kevin Bacon at the end of “Animal House” trying to reassure the rioting parade crowd to “Remain calm! All is well!” just moments before he is trampled by the surging mob.
A revolt by Presidential candidates against the machinery of their own party is unheard of in American elections and illustrates the depth of GOP voters’ rejection of the status quo that is embodied in their embrace of non-politicos Ben Carson and Donald Trump. Even establishment candidates Bush, Rubio and Kasich sent reps to the meeting to signify their displeasure, so the anger out there is deep.
So what are the demands that came out of this meeting? Some are reasonable — 30-second opening and closing statements, and an equal number of questions to all candidates — and may be very doable. Others are a little more questionable — approval of all graphics, plusher dressing rooms, never raising the studio temperature above 67 degrees, and banning any camera shots from behind the candidates. What’s next, no green M&Ms?
Of course, because big egos are involved here, several candidates had their own private demands. Ted Cruz insists that right-wing radio hosts Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin be the debate moderators. Rand Paul suggests there be no moderators at all. And kids-table regulars Lindsey Graham, Rick Santorum, George Pataki and Bobby Jindal want an end to the happy-hour debate so that they can mingle with the grown-ups too.
What’s amazing is the fact that these disparate campaigns could get together around a table and unite for a common purpose. It must have made for an amazing Sunday night. Then came Monday morning, and predictably it all went to hell. Attorney Ben Ginsburg, who moderated the round table on Sunday, proposed listing the group’s demands in a letter to the television networks that will air upcoming debates and have each campaign sign off on it. Fiorina was already a no, and soon Christie & Kasich balked as well. And by Monday night, the Trump campaign, because they are the Trump campaign, decided that they would negotiate with the television networks themselves. Because they could.
Just like that, the revolt was over. But the anger and resentment behind that revolt in the party are very real and still festering. Yes, some good came out of it. Working-the-refs is always a good technique to put the moderators at the next debate on notice not to ask a candidate if he’s running a “comic-book campaign,” as moderator John Harwood said to Trump last week. But the powers that be in the party are going to have to do something to address the discontent among the GOP faithful, because, if they don’t, it’s going to come back to bite them. And it’s going to hurt.
Can the GOP nomination process survive this?
