Fox News, Black Caucus team for debates

Thu Mar 29, 7:50 PM ET

WASHINGTON – Fox News, rebounding from a presidential debate squabble with Democrats, has a new deal with an old debate partner. The cable news network will co-sponsor primary debates for each party’s presidential field this fall in association with the Congressional Black Caucus Political Education and Leadership Institute.

The Democratic debate is scheduled for Sept. 23 at Detroit’s Fox Theater. The CBC Institute and Fox have not set a date and place for a planned Republican debate. The institute and Fox News teamed up to host two Democratic debates in 2003.

Democrats, under pressure from liberal activists, this month canceled a Nevada debate that Fox was to co-sponsor in August. Democratic critics complained that the network displays a conservative bias in its news broadcasts.

The CBC Institute, a nonprofit group whose directors include members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and Fox News announced their agreement Thursday.

Black Caucus officials made it clear that the size of the Fox News audience was more important than disputes over ideology.

“The CBC Institute is committed to presenting the presidential candidates to the broadest audience possible,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (news, bio, voting record), D-Miss., the chairman of the institute, said in a statement. “Collaborating with Fox News provides an opportunity to take this presidential election to millions of households.”

Ya know…I was wondering when people were going to finally quit complaining about Fox being nothing but conservative news reporting….and while some of the news correspondants are no doubt conservative, I have never viewed Fox as conservative as a whole. Did you know California won’t carry Fox news because of that very reason? What happened to freedom of expression and free speech in Cali anyway?Talk about political slant. I don’t know to date if they have finally started carrying Fox in California or not but I know for years the carriers there refused to.

Finally somebody wised up and thought, HEY! We’re passing up an entire group of viewers/voters over a bunch of political **bleep**. On a final note….I really hate to say this about a fellow Mississippian but Benny Thompson’s comment was just well….stupid. Bennie, the presidential election has been going to millions of households for the last 2 decades genius.(I remember watching the Reagan election coverage.) I did NOT vote for Bennie…I SWEAR.