The Hill, a newspaper intended to be read by congressional staffers and others interested in politics and the federal government, has this op-ed by Professors Larry Diamond and David C. King about the Commission on Presidential Debates. Diamond and King rebut the arguments used by the CPD in defense of the 15% polling requirement for entry into the general election debates.

If a reader clicks on the link, the article appears, then it goes into semi-darkness for about 12 seconds, and then it suddenly becomes readable, so wait patiently.

On June 17, the Annenberg Working Group on Presidential Campaign Debate Reform issued this set of recommendations for changes in general election presidential debates. The Working Group did not come to a consensus on changing the rules on who may participate. But a majority of the Working Group recommends that the poll threshold for the first general election debate should be lowered from the current 15%, to 10%. The 15% would remain in place for the second debate, and the third and final debate would have a 25% threshold.

The Working Group as a whole believes that the debate sponsor should announce in advance which polls will be used to measure who can participate. It also believes that the rules should explain what will happen if a candidate is right at the threshold, within the margin of error. Thanks to Political Wire for the link. The New York Times has a story about the report, but the New York Times story omits any mention of the part of the report dealing with inclusion.

Current New York law says the presidential primaries will be held on February 2, 2016. On June 15, AB 8256 was introduced, to move the 2016 presidential primaries to April 26. However, the legislature adjourns for the year on Wednesday, June 17. It is somewhat likely that this bill will pass, but it is not certain. If the bill passes, it will have no impact on petition deadlines for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties. Thanks to Josh Putnam for the bill number.