Ben Carson's Campaign Manager Wants To Reinvent The Debates

John Harwood, CNBC

"He hates the format"

by Daniel Greenfield: I don't think the debates even need that much reinventing, but a return to a more classic debate format that allows candidates to explain their positions without the interruptions and the debates with the moderators.

Candidates should be interacting with each other and not the moderator, for the most part. Moderators should provide a topic, rather than be the topic. Here's an example from a Reagan - Bush forum. The moderator's question is leading, but both candidates can enter into a civil discussion that is based around issues, policies and details. It's the opposite of what we have now.

It's slow. It's much less exciting than throwing out insults at Trump. Ratings would fall, but a more motivated audience would watch.In any case, Carson's people are correct. These debates are a disaster. The large number of candidates are a problem. There are still too many people on the stage. Kasich should not be there, let alone get the amount of time that he does. But neither should two or three others. And if we can't cut candidates, just pair them off, drop the whole undercard thing and have randomly chosen candidates debate in smaller groups.

It would be better than what we have now.In an interview shortly after the debate, Barry Bennett, manager of the Ben Carson campaign, called the session here in Colorado "unfair to everyone" and said the current debate structure should not remain in place. "I think the families need to get together here, because these debates as structured by the RNC are not helping the party," Bennett said. "There's not enough time to talk about your plans, there's no presentation. It's just a slugfest. All we do is change moderators. And the trendline is horrific. So I think there needs to be wholesale change here."

Bennett said he will call Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski Thursday to propose a unified call for change. "Corey and I talk regularly, so I will talk to him," Bennett said. "I will call Frank Sadler (Carly Fiorina's campaign manager), I will call those guys and say listen, we can choose our own network and our own format. We don't need to be led around like prize steers."

"I think at this point, if five or six of us get together, who generate the largest portion of the audience, we can force change," Bennett said.

... Bennett is particularly unhappy with the length of time given candidates to address issues — he thinks it's way too short — as well as the debate moderators' attempts to spark fights between the candidates. Bennett had not yet spoken with Carson himself about Wednesday night's debate, but said the two have discussed the problem in the past. "He hates the format," Bennett said of Carson.He's right.

The whole CNBC debate made no sense at all. I doubt it was even bringing in viewers considering that CNBC isn't hugely popular and there was no online stream for non-subscribers. It would have made more sense to let YouTube host a debate, as long as the moderators were clean. I suspect some major dot com, Google, Facebook or Microsoft would have jumped at the opportunity. And the candidates would be able to set terms that would make for a compelling debate about the issues.
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Daniel Greenfield is Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and a New York writer focusing on radical Islam  (Correction made 3:45 pm to photo title)

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