Hillary to Bernie: Tone Down Your Attacks, Then We’ll Debate

Bernie Sander is pushing to schedule another Democratic Presidential debate prior to the New York primary on April 19th. So far, it appears that the Clinton campaign is open to participating in a debate, so long as Sanders “tones down” some of the more aggressive rhetoric he’s been employing in recent days.

Report from Politico:

The Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton campaigns are in talks to schedule another Democratic debate before the New York primary.

“There are private conversations happening, so there will likely be an announcement in the next few days about a new debate,” a Clinton campaign senior adviser said Wednesday. Chief Sanders strategist Tad Devine confirmed that discussions are taking place between the rival camps.

The prospect of an additional debate comes after a full-throated push by the Sanders campaign to hold a debate ahead of the high-stakes April 19 primary. In a letter dated March 27, Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver wrote to Clinton counterpart Robby Mook calling for the addition of a debate in New York before Democratic voters go to the polls there.

“Our campaign continues to believe that the people of New York, the largest April primary, deserve to have the debate held in their state, and that it should be held prior to the New York primary,” Weaver wrote.

On Tuesday, Sanders’ team sent out a fundraising email urging supporters to add their name to the letter, and operatives for the campaign griped about the Clinton campaign’s refusal to agree to another debate online.

The day before, Clinton’s campaign said it would agree to a debate ahead of the New York primary only if Sanders toned down his negative attacks on the former secretary of state. [Emphasis added]

Surely Sanders would prefer to get another debate scheduled and forgo his harsher criticisms for the short term. He’s going all-in on New York so a strong debate performance, coupled with a return to a “tougher tone” after the debate would be his best shot.

It seems like the debate will be scheduled, though a possible date hasn’t yet been named. We should know in the coming days, perhaps as early as tomorrow. I would suspect it will happen in between the Wisconsin primary and the New York primary, perhaps sometime in the week of April 11th – 15th.

Of course, we’ll update again when a date has been confirmed with broadcast and live stream information.