A renegade debate is in the works in New Hampshire.
The New Hampshire Union Leader and MSNBC have teamed together to schedule an unsanctioned Democratic debate on Feb. 4 — less than a week before voters head to the polls for the nation’s first primary.
The newspaper reported that Hillary Clinton and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley both confirmed, while Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is hedging.
"I'm ready for the debate and I hope Senator Sanders will change his mind and join us," Clinton said Wednesday on MSNBC. "I think the DNC and the campaigns should be able to work this out. I've been for, you know, for a long time, that I'd be happy to have more debates and I hope we can get this done."
The debate isn’t among the six showdowns sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee, which has faced withering criticism for scheduling the events on weekend nights and comparatively scant number of the debates. The DNC has warned that any candidate participating in an unsanctioned debate could get excluded from one of the official six.
"We have no plans to sanction any further debates before the upcoming First in the Nation caucuses and primary, but will reconvene with our campaigns after those two contests to review our schedule," DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a statement.
Clinton trails Sanders by double-digits in most polls of New Hampshire Democrats, giving her ample incentive to want a nationally-televised platform to try to cut into his lead.
Republicans, meanwhile, are set to hold their final debate in New Hampshire two days later.
Note: A version of this story ran earlier in the Morning Jolt.
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