The Fox Business Network will give Republican candidates more time to respond to questions at its debate next month, reflecting the campaigns’ desire for more substantive conversations in the wake of Wednesday’s CNBC showdown.
Candidates will have 90 seconds to answer questions and 60 seconds to respond to other candidates if their name is mentioned, according to an internal memo first obtained by The New York Times. The candidates will also be given 30-second closing statements.
The Fox Business debate will be held on Nov. 10,
The decision to expand response times — candidates are traditionally allowed 60 seconds to respond to a question, and 30 seconds for a rebuttal — comes after several candidates and party officials complained about the tone and style of the CNBC debate.
?”We need a change of format,” Carson said during a press conference earlier this week. “Debates are supposed to be to get to know the candidates, what is behind them. What it has turned into is a gotcha.”
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Wednesday that he was “disappointed” in CNBC’s handling of the debate, and accused moderators of engaging “in a series of ‘gotcha’ questions, petty and mean-spirited in tone, and designed to embarrass our candidates.”
But while the campaigns and the RNC are united in their frustrations, they remain at odds over how to proceed. Several GOP campaigns believe the RNC has lost control of the debate process, and representatives from many of those campaigns are scheduled to meet Sunday in Washington, D.C. — without the RNC — to discuss how they can take greater control.
