GOP Planning on Tighter Control Over 2016 Primaries: Fewer Debates, Better Moderators

The Republican party is planning some major overhauls of the 2016 primary election process, according to a new CNN report, including fewer debates (there were 20 in 2012) and having a stronger say in who would moderate the debates in the first place.

The GOP rather infamously threatened both CNN and NBC over their planned Hillary Clinton projects with a debate boycott, and even though both networks dropped their respective projects, the Republicans are still planning on some major revamping for the 2016 cycle.

One proposal being weighed by the RNC members would involve sanctioning a small handful of debates while penalizing candidates who participate in any nonsanctioned GOP debate by stripping them of one-third of their delegates to the national convention.

There is also a “heavy appetite” to have a say over which journalists should be allowed to moderate the debates, said one Republican familiar with the ongoing discussions.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus floated the idea of a “talk radio debate” earlier this year hosted by people like Sean Hannity or Mark Levin.

The GOP also wants to crack down on states attempting to move their primaries earlier in the season in order to be more competitive, planning to penalize states that try it. And the primary season will be somewhat shortened, with the RNC convention planned for June instead of late August/early September when the conventions are generally held.

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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