Phoenix Debate: No audience. No spin room.

[denem]

No audience for the debate in Arizona on Sunday.

There will be no live audience. No spin room. Virtually no traveling members of the press. This is a presidential primary debate in the age of coronavirus.

CNN and Democratic officials announced on Tuesday that “at the request of the campaigns and out of an abundance of caution,” the Democratic debate in Phoenix on Sunday between Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Senator Bernie Sanders would be a significantly pared-down affair.

The live audience — whose jeers and cheers can be a major variable for the candidates onstage — will be missing. Instead, Mr. Biden and Mr. Sanders will debate each other in an empty theater, joined only by a handful of moderators and television crew members.

The spin room, where campaign aides scramble after the debate to declare their candidates a winner in front of packs of deadline-addled reporters, is scrapped as well, along with the media filing center, the often-cavernous space where hundreds of political reporters gather to watch the television broadcast and write their reports.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/world/coronavirus-news.html

[rpannier]

1. I like this

Not just because it protects the health of many
Also, I am not really interested in the clapping, the gasps, the whatever from the audience
IMO it distracts from what should be the focus and that's who is running

Now, if they could just find a way to keep the moderators from trying to shine the spotlight on themselves - ahem Wolf Blitzer

[lapfog_1]

2. Personally, I wouldn't bother with more debates.

Bernie got the knock out blow last night.

[SunSeeker]

3. Exactly. What good will come of it?

Time to come together.

[SunSeeker]

4. Just cancel it altogether. What is the point? Dems need to heal. nt

[Hortensis]

5. Since debates are supposed to educate caring voters, great!

The kind of pathetic wussy-warrior game show they've devolved into is disgusting, degrading to everyone involved, and of course fail to serve the electorate.

I'm really looking forward to watching this interesting experiment. Usually I record in case there's a moment I want to check out for myself and then end up deleting unwatched.