Open Debates' Victories

Open Debates was formed in the fall of 2003, and it achieved three significant, tangible victories during its first year in operation. In response to the unprecedented pressure exerted by Open Debates and its supporters, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) took some small steps in the right direction during the 2004 election season, but substantial reform is still urgently needed before the presidential debates live up to their potential as engaging and informative examples of democracy in action.

Due to Open Debates' work, for the first time in 16 years, the contract drafted by the Republican and Democratic campaigns – the 2004 Memorandum of Understanding – was made public. The American people were able to hold the major party candidates accountable for the sanitized debates they unilaterally designed, and citizens, academic, civic leaders, commentators, and newspaper editorial boards across the nation expressed outrage at direct candidate manipulation. 

Due to Open Debates' work, for the first time in 12 years, a diversity of moderators -- rather than just Jim Lehrer -- posed questions during the 2004 debates. Under extraordinary pressure, the CPD proposed moderators for the first time in its history, and the Kerry and Bush campaigns accepted those four moderators.  As a result, issues that have previously been ignored in CPD-sponsored debates -- such as the minimum wage, income inequality, immigration and gun control -- were seriously addressed.

Due in part to Open Debates' work, the television networks refused to restrict their camera shots to the candidate speaking, as stipulated in the 2004 Memoranda of Understanding.  By attacking the debate contract and the complicit CPD, Open Debates set the stage for the networks to rebuff the candidates' wishes in order to provide more visual information to the American people.  Reaction shots, particularly of President George W. Bush, proved to be revealing to some voters.

These three victories were achieved through the hard work of Open Debates, its supporters and volunteers nationwide, and the more than 70 civic groups that are part of the debate reform movement. 

During its first year in operation, Open Debates formed a genuinely nonpartisan Citizens' Debate Commission that was endorsed by dozens of major newspapers; forged a coalition of diverse civic groups to fight for debate reform, jointly issuing reports, drafting letters, issuing press releases, and holding press conferences; released a book exposing the antidemocratic practices of the CPD; filed unprecedented FEC and IRS complaints against the CPD and on October 12, a Federal Court ordered a full investigation of the CPD; conducted over 100 radio interviews, and attracted major television news coverage, with stories about our work on "Nightline," "20/20," "NOW with Bill Moyers," "ABC World News with Peter Jennings," "NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw," "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather," "Lou Dobbs Tonight" and many other shows.

Open Debates dramatically transformed the debate over the debates in 2004. During the first interview of Executive Director George Farah on CNN, the host asked, “Aren't the debates just fine they way they are?” By contrast, during the most recent interview of Executive Director George Farah on CNN, the host began the segment with the following statement, “While there may have been some revealing moments that swung some voters this year, they happened in spite of a stifling sense of debate edicts drafted by the Commission on Presidential Debates, funded by corporate America, and controlled by the major parties. Enter the calls for reform.”

The corporate-financed CPD is still a creature of the two major parties, and that makes it a fundamentally flawed organization. The CPD submits to the demands of the major party campaigns, which results in the exclusion of all third-party challengers and the manipulation of debate formats.  "Although the debate reform movement has achieved a significant victory, we must redouble our efforts, in order to fully reform this sorry state of affairs," concluded Rob Richie, executive director of the Center for Voting and Democracy.

Open Debates' debate reform efforts have just begun.  Imagine what we can all accomplish for the 2008 presidential debates.