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. |
Australian police probe why man who stabbed 6 people to death in a Sydney mall targeted womenJamie Laing pays tribute to wife Sophie Habboo as they celebrate their first wedding anniversaryKeanu Reeves and longtime girlfriend Alexandra Grant put on a lovedKeanu Reeves and longtime girlfriend Alexandra Grant put on a lovedChina, Micronesia to elevate tiesMeet the Real Housewives star who spent £25m on a 1,000World's first mountaintop impact crater found in NE ChinaNew toad species found in south ChinaCompany in N China's Shanxi advances in developing ultraGene Herrick, AP photographer who covered the Korean War and civil rights, dies at 97