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. |
GameStop, AMC stocks surge as Roaring Kitty returnsUkrainian schoolchildren head underground in bombProposed Minnesota Equal Rights Amendment draws rival crowds to Capitol for crucial votesMercury eightCelebrity birthdays for the week of May 19Prince Harry's memoir Spare beaten in every category it was nominated for at British Book AwardsHaitians break taboo on mental health services after violence traumatize kidsGameStop, AMC stocks surge as Roaring Kitty returnsChina, other countries to spur tradeChina's consumer prices show mild upticks amid continued demand recovery