Tough talk from the GOP presidential campaigns has fizzled out and it turns out the kerfuffle was much ado about nothing.
The Republican effort to stage a united front on debate reforms began to crumble Monday night as several campaigns announced that they would not sign a letter of demands to debate media sponsors.
Late Monday afternoon, less than 24 hours after campaigns gathered outside Washington to discuss the reforms, Donald Trump’s campaign announced that the GOP frontrunner would negotiate independently with the media organizations, spurning the other campaigns who had hoped to make a unified effort.
Several campaigns declined to sign the letter, including Chris Christie’s and John Kasich’s. Carly Fiorina’s campaign issued a statement which almost seemed to decry the other campaigns’ efforts.
“These debates are an important chance for voters to see conservative candidates under pressure and over time,” a Fiorina spokesperson wrote. “We have consistently and successfully discussed our concerns with the networks and the voters — and not behind closed doors like the political class seems to like to do.”
