Democratic presidential contender Martin O’Malley, who has vocally called out the Democratic National Committee for limiting the number of presidential debates this election year, said he’s challenged rival Vermont Senator Bernard Sanders to a one-on-one debate to which the Senator declined.
Mr. O’Malley and Mr. Sanders have both criticized the DNC for only having six debates in the 2016 presidential cycle, compared with 25 in the 2008 election. They have also complained about the timing of the events, the last debate was held on a Saturday evening the weekend before Christmas, while football games were being aired.
“I asked Senator Sanders,” Mr. O’Malley said Tuesday in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program, about having a one-on-one unsanctioned debate. “Senator Sanders doesn’t want to do more debates either. He kind of liked where it is.”
Mr. O’Malley, who is struggling to register in the polls, has looked to debates to highlight his campaign and get more exposure. He’s accused the DNC of rigging the debate schedule as a way to protect front-runner Hillary Clinton.
“They’ve scheduled it during shopping season, December 19th,” Mr. O’Malley said prior to December’s debate. “I don’t know why that is. I think it’s out of a false sense that they have to circle the wagons around the inevitable front-runner.”
The last Democratic debate garnered 6.7 million viewers, far fewer than the 18 million viewers the Republican debate attracted a week prior.
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