It's official. After previewing the move for months, the Republican National Committee (RNC) has announced an official boycott of the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), which has administered the quadrennial events since 1988. The RNC isn't completely rejecting debates, which RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel described as "an important part of the democratic process" in her statement. But it's not clear whether the CPD is willing to meet Republicans' demands for reform or Democrats are willing to bypass the commission, leaving the future of the exercise in doubt.
That's no great loss. Although they've become centerpieces of the campaign, presidential debates are a fairly recent innovation. The first series wasn't arranged until 1960. Due to the perceived risks of the exercise, demonstrated by Richard Nixon's uneasy performance in his opening encounter with John F. Kennedy, no more debates were held until 1976.
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