The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced on October 9, 2012 (EST) that the second presidential debate scheduled for October 15 has been canceled, and that the agency will fully prepare for the third debate in Tennessee, scheduled for October 22.
The statement noted that the Trump and Biden campaigns had both announced new plans on the day of the second presidential debate, which was scheduled for the 15th. The agency said, “It is now clear that there will be no debate on the 15th, and the committee will turn its attention to preparing for the final presidential debate on the 22nd.” Earlier, the Commission on Presidential Debates, a nonprofit with bipartisan support, said on August 8 that it would change the format of the debate, originally planned for the 15th, to allow both candidates to participate online.
Later, Trump said in an interview with Fox News that the online debate format was “unacceptable. He said, “I’m not going to waste my time in a virtual discussion.” In addition, Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien also called the online debate format a “sad excuse” to help Biden. A number of Republican members of Congress and politicians have also tweeted that the Gai Commission is biased toward Democrats and Biden and is no longer neutral. There was some concern that Biden would be at a disadvantage when facing the Trump debate, and the first debate between the two was a shock to many because of the difficulty in maintaining discipline on the floor.
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