Reince Priebus: 'Republicans Have Got A Lot Of Work To Do And It Starts With Primary Reform'
By Dom Giordano
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus talked with WPHT midday host Dom Giordano about the changes in the Republican primary process that he wants to implement in order to get a different outcome than the 2012 presidential election. That is, even with all of the success that was seen in the midterm election this past November.
"I would never try to say that just because we did great in the midterm, that means suddenly we're going to cruise to greatness in 2016. We've got a lot of work to do, and a presidential, big cultural vote is a much different election than it was a couple of months ago...We've got to get a national party that is obsessed over the mechanics and one of the things that we have to be obsessed over is the primary process and it's the debates. So, one thing that we're going to do is we're not going to have a 23 debate circus, but not limit it so much that we don't have a good forum."
Seeing that he believes that the Republican Party is "starting to get our act together as a national party," Priebus intends to make use of the progress that he has seen by trying to replace the people like CNN's Candy Crowley, that moderated the debates three years ago with "fair journalists."
"We've got to have a say in with the networks as to who the moderators are going to be. I'm not ready to announce who it's going to be and who it's not going to be, but I can assure you it's not going to be people that are in the business of slicing and dicing our party so they can make news on their network. It's going to be people who actually give a darn about what we're trying to do in our party and be fair and present our candidates in a way that brings honor to the party and not embarrassment."
While he feels that the moderators could even be a talk show host, Priebus explained that the partnerships that are place with the debates are really what is going to show the kind of moderator that they are looking for.
"So, when you see these debates and you see the media partners you're only seeing a small portion of the story, the rest of some of these partnerships will be announced and I think the picture will be more clear as to what we're talking about when we're looking for people that are going to be fair journalists that are going to be asking the questions. "