this is just another reminder of what a worthless fiasco the debates have
become for either party.
Chuck
From: joe harcz Comcast
Sent: Saturday, March 5, 2016 6:49 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] the unwashed masses here can't get in
Limited tickets set for Sanders, Clinton Flint debate Chad Livengood and
Jonathan Oosting, Detroit News Lansing Bureau Democratic voters hoping to get
into
Sunday night's presidential primary debate at The Whiting auditorium in Flint
between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders may be out of luck. The Democratic
National Committee and CNN had a limited number of tickets to give out to the
general public after hundreds of seats had to be set aside for the Sanders
and Clinton campaigns, Democratic Party leaders and the debate sponsors, the
University of Michigan-Flint and The Flint Journal. CNN made 300 tickets
available
directly to Flint residents for an expected audience seating of 1,381, DNC
spokesman TJ Helmstetter said. But it's unclear how CNN distributed tickets
to Flint residents. A network spokeswoman directed debate ticket questions back
to the DNC, which issued a limited statement. The Whiting has a 2,043 seating
capacity, but CNN's television production sets eliminated the view of hundreds
of seats. The same thing occurred Thursday night for the Republican debate
at the 5,000-seat Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit. Fox News Channel set up a
news desk in the Fox Theatre's balcony, eliminating the entire upper seating
sections. Dozens of rows in the middle section of the lower level of the Fox
were not used by their view was blocked by TV cameras. Helmstetter said the
Democratic debate audience would be comprised of a 'diverse cross-section of
Michigan' residents. 'As with all of our debates, tickets have been made
available
through a variety of stakeholders, including the two presidential campaigns,
the state Democratic party, the University of Michigan-Flint, and CNN, and
that process always includes the people who live in and represent the cities
and states that host us,' Helmstetter said in a statement. For those Flint
residents who didn't get tickets, the university is hosting a debate watch
party at the Northbank Center Ballroom, 432 N. Saginaw, in Flint. Doors open
at 7 p.m. clivengood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (517) 371-3660 Twitter.com/ChadLivengood
