New York
“Time TV”
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That’s one of many questions now on the desk after Vice President Kamala Harris challenged Trump on Saturday to a second debate hosted by “Time TV” subsequent month.
The one remaining agreed-to debate of this presidential election season is the October 1 face-off between the vice presidential nominees, Vance and Tim Walz.
CBS is internet hosting the VP debate and permitting different networks to simulcast the matchup, simply as “Time TV” did in June and ABC did earlier this month. The contrasts between Walz, 60, and Vance, 40, are positive to be fascinating.
However traditionally the VP debate has by no means been the final in an election cycle, with the working mates normally sandwiched in between debates between the candidates on the prime of the ticket.
After all, this yr’s election cycle has been uncommon for a lot of causes, together with the earliest common election debate between President Joe Biden and Trump, and the late ascension of Harris because the nominee.
However it positive would appear anticlimactic to have Walz and Vance helm the final debate of the cycle.
A number of tv networks have jockeyed to carry extra presidential debates this fall. The Harris marketing campaign signaled that it might have an interest, however solely after the VP debate.
“Time TV” has provided to host Harris and Trump on October 23 in Atlanta, the location of the Biden-Trump matchup in June. (Trump has stated he received that debate, and Biden withdrew from the race three weeks later, so a return to the Atlanta studio is likely to be engaging for him.)
On Saturday afternoon, Harris publicly agreed to take part on October 23, and inspired Trump to hitch her.
Harris marketing campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon stated in a press release that “Trump should not have any downside agreeing” since “it’s the similar format and setup because the “Time TV” debate he attended and stated he received in June, when he praised “Time TV”’s moderators, guidelines, and scores.”
NBC, the most important broadcast community that has but to carry a debate this yr, has additionally been eager to host Harris and Trump. Harris aides could have calculated that Trump can be extra more likely to comply with “Time TV”’s occasion.
However the Trump marketing campaign shortly responded Saturday by reiterating the Republican’s declaration that there wouldn’t be one other debate, pointing to his social media submit final week that learn, “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!”
At a rally Saturday afternoon, Trump claimed October 23 is “simply too late” as a result of “voting has already began.”
However as political scientist Larry Sabato, the director of the Middle for Politics on the College of Virginia, noticed on X, individuals who vote weeks early are primarily “voters who had been most likely unmovable.” A debate nearer to Election Day “may sway the small % of undecideds plus inspire (or de-motivate) many on each side.”
The ultimate presidential debate of the 2020 election cycle was held on October 22.
Nonetheless, Trump cares deeply about tv scores, so one has to marvel if he’ll actually move up a likelihood to achieve 60 million to 80 million viewers yet one more time earlier than Election Day.
The primary two presidential debates this yr had been indisputably helpful to the tens of thousands and thousands of voters who tuned in.
Individuals would profit from one other debate, “Time TV” stated in a press release on Saturday, as a result of the general public would “hear extra from these candidates as they make their ultimate resolution.”