Biden Rejects Idea of Fourth Debate With Trump: Campaign Update

(Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden’s campaign rejected President Donald Trump’s suggestion that the two candidates meet for four general-election debates instead of the traditional three.

The New York Times reported Thursday that the Trump campaign pressed the Commission on Presidential Debates to allow the additional debate and to hold it earlier. The first forum is scheduled for Sept. 29 at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

“We are not going to ride the roller coaster of the ever-changing Trump campaign position on debates, nor are we going to be distracted by his demands,” said Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager.

She said the Trump campaign was trying to “change the subject from his failed leadership, and launch a ‘campaign’ for many debates.” Biden leads Trump in the RealClearPolitics average of polls 50% to 41%.

The request for another forum is a shift for the Trump campaign, which last year indicated it was considering eschewing any debates sponsored by the commission. The Trump campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment. The Times said the meeting with the commission included Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, and campaign manager Brad Parscale.

Trump was asked about the possibility of a fourth debate in an interview Wednesday night with Sean Hannity on Fox News. “I would, frankly, like it,” Trump said.

Biden to Spend $15 Million on First Big Ads (10:40 a.m.)

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will spend $15 million on advertising that prominently features his recent address in Philadelphia on racial unrest, his campaign’s first set of ads in his general election run against President Donald Trump.

In the first ad, Biden says that as president he won’t “traffic in fear and division” as video shows Trump’s comments on the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.

The second ad shows essential workers during the coronavirus pandemic as Biden says “we need to do more than praise them, we need to pay them.”

The five-week ad campaign will air in six states Trump won in 2016 -- Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Florida and Arizona -- as well as on Fox News, which the president watches regularly.

The ad campaign also includes Spanish-language ads in Florida and Arizona and ads in African-American print, radio and online outlets in all six states. -- Ryan Teague Beckwith

Coming up:

President Donald Trump is planning to resume big rallies with an event on Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Democratic National Convention is scheduled for the week beginning Aug. 17 in Milwaukee, while the Republicans are slated to meet a week later with events in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida.

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