Brendan Bordelon reports for National Review Online on some Democrats who are dissatisfied with the national party’s approach to presidential debates.
Greeted by a rope barrier and scowling security guards, about 150 raucous Democratic protesters gathered Wednesday afternoon in front of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in Washington, D.C. to challenge the Committee’s decision to limit Democratic candidates to six debates and punish those who participate in any additional debates.
“I want to thank the Democratic National Committee, under chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, for putting up a barrier preventing Democrats from getting into the DNC headquarters,” said organizer Ben Dornberg, prompting a chorus of boos from the assembled protesters. “It is a perfect symbol of the way that DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz has completely ignored the thousands of e-mails and phone calls, and over a quarter-million petitions, from real Democrats who are demanding to get to know the people that are running to lead this country.”
With all eyes on the GOP debate Wednesday evening, Dornberg’s organization, Allow Debate, sought to throw the spotlight back on Wasserman Schultz by accusing her of protecting Hillary Clinton and allowing Republicans to overshadow the Democratic Party’s message. The group is affiliated with former Maryland governor and current presidential candidate Martin O’Malley, who kicked off the controversy with a fiery speech demanding more debates during the DNC’s summer meeting in Minneapolis last month.
Under Wasserman Schultz, the DNC is forcing all Democratic candidates to participate in just six officially sanctioned presidential debates — only two of which are to be held after next year’s Iowa caucus. If any candidate were to participate in a debate not blessed by the DNC, he’d face immediate exclusion from all remaining debates in the cycle.