Bernie Sanders accuses the DNC of playing favorites with Hillary Clinton

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

published 21 December 2015

Right after sparring with Hillary Clinton on Saturday, Sen. Bernie Sanders said that the latest Democratic debate was scheduled on a weekend evening to limit viewership. It's an outcome that's only helpful to Clinton, whose name recognition is near-universal, while Sanders remains comparatively unknown.

"In Iowa, you know when the debate was held? It was the night of the big football game in Iowa. You think that's a coincidence?" Sanders said in reference to a previous Saturday night debate in mid-November. "So I hope a lot of people watched the debate tonight, I think it was a good debate, but I think there is a desire on the part of the leadership of the DNC to protect Secretary Clinton."

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley has for months leveled a similar critique at the Democratic National Committee (DNC), alleging that the primary debate schedule was "rigged" for Clinton's benefit.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.