Ok, this is pretty rough and early, but as I was watching CNN (I’m a masochist for Trump overload), they reported from Iowa that the Sanders and Clinton campaigns have reached an agreement to go for the debate next week, and at least 2 more later in the campaign.
I consider this somewhat of a checkmate for the Sanders camp. I wrote this yesterday:
Bernie is really hurting his campaign by hesitating. If he jumps on this, he will have the advantage to set up the next far more important unsanctioned debate. He can pick whatever state he feels he needs the most help with and call for a debate just before that primary. How in the world could Clinton decline after Bernie accepted this debate? Bernie could rake her over the coals and get FAR more political capital than if Clinton actually accepted. If he jumps on this now, he's got an unbelievable opportunity to demand the when and where for the next unsanctioned debate.
I find this whole unsanctioned debate thing over the last couple of days to be a real political chess match. As soon as MSNBC went public, the pressure was on the two camps to make their moves. The Clinton camp thought they had the advantage by quickly excepting a debate before a primary they were behind in. But as I said yesterday, as soon as they accepted, they gave the advantage to the Sanders camp, as long as they moved quickly. The Sanders camp has always wanted more debates and as soon as the Clinton camp jumped on next weeks debate, they gave the Sanders camp a real opening to get more of what they wanted. Bernie is almost sure to win NH, debate or not, so the Sanders camp has gained a lot more out of this game than the Clinton camp.
If you’re a political junkie, this was really a great game, and to watch each camp make their moves was one of the most entertaining moments of the campaign so far.
Great game to both campaigns!