As Townhall reported earlier this week, CNN rolled out an announcement on Thursday that it would be hosting two GOP primary debates in January 2024, one in each of the first two states to hold presidential preference contests: Iowa and New Hampshire.
The announcement drew incorrect criticism of the Republican National Committee, as the national party had nothing to do with the debates announced by CNN, a network with which the RNC did not work on any of the four sanctioned primary showdowns.
As it turns out, CNN was perhaps a bit premature in its announcement, as one of the institutions listed by CNN as a debate venue — Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire — had no knowledge of the plans before the announcement.
Via The New York Times:
With great fanfare this week, CNN announced it would host the network’s first debate of the 2024 presidential campaign, gathering the Republican candidates for a marquee event on Jan. 21 at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire.
There was only one problem: Saint Anselm had no idea what CNN was talking about.
CNN’s debate plans leave New Hampshire officials confused — the network says it will host a Republican primary debate in New Hampshire at Saint Anselm College… but that was news to Saint Anselm.
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) December 8, 2023
https://t.co/1mfQ5Gcan5
According to Neil Levesque, the executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics and Political Library at Saint Anselm College, the school was "surprised to be included on a press release by a network about a debate which we had not planned or booked." Levesque also noted the announcement "breached the RNC debate rules" which changed on Friday to allow primary candidates to participate in unsanctioned debates (more on that later).
@SaintAnselm @nhiop we were surprised to be included on a press release by a network about a debate which we had not planned or booked. Such a debate announcement breached the RNC debate rules. We have and will continue to work with the Republican Party on debates. #nhpolitics
— Neil Levesque (@NeilLevesque) December 8, 2023
According to reporting on the situation in the New York Times, New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Chris Ager said CNN's announcement was also a surprise and that, "[f]or a big, professional organization like that, putting out a location on this date and the location doesn't know — something's not quite right." No kidding.
In a statement to Townhall, a CNN spokesperson said the network "can’t speak to any miscommunication within Saint Anselm" but pledged to move forward with "plans to host a debate in New Hampshire on January 21" without saying whether the school would be the site of an eventual debate.
Iowa's Drake University, on the other hand, was apparently aware of the plans for a debate at their school and released a statement on Thursday saying it was "proud" to work with CNN to host a debate before the GOP caucuses.
Whatever comes of the confounding situation with CNN's attempts to host a pre-primary debate in New Hampshire, the Republican National Committee has green-lit candidate participation in unsanctioned debates for the remainder of the 2024 primaries.
In a statement, the RNC's Committee on Presidential Debates said that, following "four successful debates across the country with the most conservative partners in the history of a Republican primary" and with "no RNC debates scheduled in January," it is "time for Republican primary voters to decide who will be our next President and candidates are free to use any forum or format to communicate to voters as they see fit."
Editor's note: This story was updated to include a comment from CNN.