Elections

GOP Chair Reince Priebus: ‘The Democratic Side Is A Bit Of A Sleeper’

Steve Guest Media Reporter
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GOP Chairman Reince Priebus joined “Morning Joe” Thursday were he declared, “All the interest is on the Republican side right now. The Democratic side is a bit of a sleeper.”

Priebus further clarified that the Republicans should abide by Reagan’s 11th Commandment of Containment and, “make sure we don’t put up with a whole lot of mudslinging and call it out when you see it, but let jabs go by as well.”

Reince Priebus: Well look, I mean if you go back to the beginning, we wanted to do a couple things, guys. Number one, we didn’t want to have 23 debates. We’re not. We were going have some say over the moderators. We do. And we’re going to give our candidates a set schedule, which we have. So look, it’s a pretty incredible atmosphere out here. You were just talking to Chuck Todd. I mean, it just feels like we are in the depths of presidential campaign season already. And just walking up here, getting ready to see you guys, I just had that feeling like we were already back at a national convention. That’s what it feels like here when you are going to be here in Cleveland, I think.

Joe Scarborough: Yeah, it’s pretty exciting. We can’t wait to see you. We’re going to get out there a little bit later this afternoon. Looking forward to seeing you as always. And we hope we can see you tomorrow morning after the debate. I think though… I’m saying this as a Republican, I you know, you hear people go, “Oh, it’s too messy and too many people in there.” I’ve always felt that’s great for a party. It draws more attention to the party. And tonight if you have, like Chuck [Todd] said, 10, 15 million people tuning in to a Republican debate, that could be nothing but good news for at least one or two candidates to break out.

Rein Priebus: Well, that’s right. I mean we’ve got to be doing something right. I mean all the interest is on the Republican side right now. The Democratic side is a bit of a sleeper. Although the Joe Biden issue is interesting and maybe that will spark some interest in what’s happening on the Democrat side. But you know really it’s sort of [garbled]— it’s a wealth of just a lot of buzz and people coming out here. And I think for me and for our party, it’s a little bit about containment, too. So I mean yeah, I agree with you, Joe. Having 17 candidates is important. And giving everyone an opportunity is important. But you know, containment is a key word too. I mean, we’ve got to make sure we abide by Reagan’s 11th Commandment as best as you can and make sure we don’t put up with a whole lot of mudslinging and call it out when you see it, but let jabs go by as well. So I mean it’s a balancing act that we have to let happen. Without us kind of killing each other at the same time.