Politico, DNC at odds over Democratic debate moderator nbcnews.com/news/all/polit… via @nbcnews
Politico and PBS are scheduled to co-host the sixth Democratic primary debate on Dec. 19 in Los Angeles.
At the behest of its publisher, Robert Allbritton, Politico is pushing for Tim Alberta, the chief political correspondent for Politico Magazine, to join journalists from PBS Newshour at the moderators' desk.
Politico’s decision to push for Alberta has rankled officials at the DNC, as well as some journalists at PBS and even Politico, the sources said.
The reason: Alberta previously wrote for National Review and has spent the bulk of his recent career chronicling the Republican Party.
DNC officials say such a journalist is ill-suited to co-moderate a debate meant to better inform Dem voters about their potential nominees.
DNC officials say such a journalist is ill-suited to co-moderate a debate meant to better inform Dem voters about their potential nominees.
Politico believes Alberta is a nonpartisan journalist and shouldn’t be penalized because he covered the GOP or wrote for National Review. The news organization is continuing to push to have him on the panel.
