Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) are pushing their leadership to withdraw from an agreement with Fox News to sponsor a Democratic presidential primary debate on Sept. 23 in Detroit.
Spurred by liberal activist groups such as MoveOn.org, the three Democratic presidential frontrunners, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), have withdrawn from the debate, citing what they call Fox News’s conservative bias.
“I do think that the CBC should seriously consider pulling out because Fox almost always chooses the opposite position of our caucus and members are continuously badmouthed on there,” a member of the black caucus, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), said. “That would be my position inside the caucus. However, I in the final analysis would support the caucus’s decision.”
Another caucus member, Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.), said: “Fox News brings the right-wing side of the news, and there’s no sense in participating in that kind of game-playing.
“We’re very serious about taking the administration in November and I wouldn’t trust getting an accurate and true portrayal of our views on the issues if Fox News is coordinating it,” she said in reference to Democratic hopes of taking back the White House in 2008.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus may raise the issue at a weekly meeting scheduled for today.
“I’ve had conversations with my colleagues and we’re probably going to have further discussions,” caucus member Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) said. “My point is that the major candidates aren’t going to be there, and that’s no real debate.
“I think there should be consultation with the candidates and consultation among ourselves,” he said. “If the candidates choose not to participate, we probably need to rethink what we’re doing.”
The CBC is sponsoring the debate with Fox through the Congressional Black Caucus Political Education and Leadership Institute, of which Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) is chairman. Though the CBC Institute is not affiliated formally with the black caucus, any decisions made by a majority of caucus members would have a significant influence on the institute’s board of directors, lawmakers said.
Four African-American lawmakers sit on the institute’s 14-member board, according to its website. They are Reps. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), Mel Watt (D-N.C.), House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Thompson.
One lawmaker who declined to speak on the record about the caucus’s internal decision-making said members could vote to overrule Thompson’s preference for going forward with the debate.
Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.), who stated that the institute should pull out of the debate with Fox, said the caucus is split evenly on the issue.
“It’s split,” he said. “Half of [the caucus’s members] think that because we started down the path, we should stay.’
One lawmaker said Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in the House, agrees with those of his colleagues who want to scrap the debate. But Clyburn told The Hill he had not discussed the subject with colleagues.
“It’s up to Bennie,” he said, referring to Thompson, with whom he has a close relationship, according to colleagues.
Kilpatrick, the chairwoman of the CBC, said she supported the agreement with Fox, even though it is likely to result in a debate among candidates considered long-shots to win the nomination.
“First of all, all the networks have a certain bias,” said Kilpatrick, who emphasized that the CBC Institute and not the CBC itself is sponsoring the debate.
Speaking of Fox, she said, “It’s the largest cable network in America. They have over 70 million subscribers. I don’t think at this point we pull out. The question we have to answer is, Do we want to reach as many Americans as we can?”
Kilpatrick also noted that the CBC Institute will retain a large amount of control over the debate’s format.
The institute stated its goals and expectations for the debate in a public release issued shortly after it forged agreements with Fox and CNN to sponsor four primary debates — each network will air a Democratic and a Republican debate.
“As a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, the CBC Institute is holding the debates to help educate African-Americans and others on key issues of national policy,” the institute wrote in its statement. “As with our previously sponsored debates, the CBC Institute will determine the format and select the panelists for the debates.”
CBC leaders feel some sense of obligation to Fox because it was the only news network that agreed to televise a black caucus-sponsored debate before the 2004 Democratic presidential primary.
“The ask was sent out to everyone,” Kilpatrick said. “Four years ago, Fox was the only one that stepped up and they did a great job.”
If the CBC were to withdraw, it would be the second Fox-sponsored debate to succumb to pressure from liberal activists. Fox and the Nevada Democratic Party had planned to co-host a debate in August among the Democratic presidential hopefuls, but those plans were later scrapped after protests.
The leading Democratic contenders, Obama, Clinton and Edwards, are expected to participate in the CBC Institute-sponsored debate to be aired by CNN, which some Republicans call the “Clinton News Network” because they believe it has a liberal bias.
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