The campaigns agreed to debate first in Atlanta on June 27. The second will take place at Virginia State University, a historically Black college in Petersburg, Va., on Sept.10.
Tammy Vigil, associate dean of the Boston University College of Communication, told UPI that while the candidates have agreed on the dates and locations, these debates are not quite a sure thing.
“I don’t know that there have been any virtual or symbolic handshakes over the deal,” said Vigil, who co-authored The Third Agenda in U.S. Presidential Debates: Debate Watch and Citizen Reactions. “They’re more locked down on the locations than the dates. Virginia State University had been arranged by the commission. They’re sort of using the commission’s work without having to go through the commission.”
The move to circumvent the Commission on Presidential Debates is uncommon. Republican and Democratic candidates have not gone outside of the commission to set their own debate schedule since it was formed in 1987.
The nonpartisan, nonprofit organization was formed for this sole purpose after the League of Women Voters organized debates from 1976 to 1984. Before that, it was news organizations that put presidential debates together, starting with the debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960.
The commission is co-chaired by former Republican National Committee chairman Frank Fahrenkopf and philanthropist Antonia Hernandez, a Democrat. Its board consists of eight members, both Republicans and De
