Open Debates' Victories

Formed in 2003, Open Debates has achieved tangible victories during the 2004 and 2008 presidential debates, including:

• Open Debates has exposed the antidemocratic practices of the partisan CPD in multiple televised press conferences, dozens of primetime television news interviews, meetings with newspaper editorial boards, and hundreds of radio interviews.  As a result, more than 40 newspapers have editorialized in support of Open Debates' reform movement.

• Open Debates has built a coalition of more than 60 civic groups to advocate the reform of the presidential process and the replacement of the CPD with a genuinely nonpartisan debate sponsor.

• Due to Open Debates' work, for the first time in 16 years, the contract drafted by the Republican and Democratic campaigns in 2004 that dictated the terms of the presidential debates was made public. The American people were able to hold the major party candidates accountable for the sanitized debates, and citizens, academic, civic leaders, and newspaper editorial boards across the nation expressed opposition to such candidate manipulation. 

• Due in part to Open Debates' work, the television networks refused to restrict their camera shots to the candidate speaking, as required by the 2004 Memoranda of Understanding.  By attacking the debate contract, Open Debates set the stage for the networks to rebuff the candidates' wishes and provide more visual information to the American people. 

• Due to Open Debates' work, a diversity of moderators -- rather than just Jim Lehrer -- posed questions during the 2004 and 2008 presidential debates.  The CPD proposed moderators for the first time in its history, and the major party campaigns accepted the proposed moderators. 

• In 2008, in order to preempt criticism from Open Debates, the CPD announced that it would no longer allow the major party nominees to determine how presidential debates are going to be structured.  “The candidates aren’t going to dictate to us anymore,” said Frank Fahrenkopf, co-chair of the CPD.

• In 2008, as a result of pressure from Open Debates, the CPD advocated formats that would encourage the candidates to directly respond to each other's statements without interference from the moderator.  As a result, the 2008 presidential debates featured a bit more candidate-to-candidate communication between than there had been in previous CPD-sponsored debates.