It's obvious they want to pass the buck.  They caught so much shit for it, no one wants to own up to it.  If Harry really had as big balls as we hope he has ... he'd cancel this thing himself.  Has anyone else been calling his DC office?  If so, what did they tell you?

Appalling weasels. If I lived in Nevada I'd take after the Nevada party liars who are running things. Nationally, if we can get more progressive/populists in the Senate in '08, then we could campaign for a new leader to replace Reid.

AKA: Hillary's Nevada Chair

This seems to be much ado about nothing.  One state.  One debate.  Once it's over it's over.

Who cares if FOX NEWS hosts a debate? I mean, who really cares? MODERATE DEMOCRATS sure don't!

There is only one possible explanation.

Nevada Democrats Drugged & Raped By Fox News

There are only 1 person who could've decided this unilaterally: the Chair of the Nevada Democratic Party.  He's the only one who had the authority to act without consulting everyone else.  Anyone else would've had to get someone to sign off on the deal (including Reid, as someone from the NDP would've had to sign the contract).  So it had to be the someone with the authority to sign a contract without prior consent (or the apparent authority to do so), and that person could only be the chair.

Chris, I don't have the answer to your rhetorical questions, but I am glad that you are keeping up the pressure on the powers that be to be accountable for their decisions.  I say raise a big stink over this.  We have your back!

shlenny

Until we have democracy, integrity, transparency, accountability and dedication to serving the interests of the Democratic constituency at the state level, how can we expect the same in DC?  This is where reform is needed.  This decision is a symptom of what is wrong with the Democratic Party.  There is self interest at work without thought on how these decisions affect the base and the candidates.  Strange people in charge - nobody knows who made the decision?  Good work Chris.  We marvel why Democrats can't get together in DC and end the war.   They can't even set up a debate in Nevada that looks after Democratic interests.  This pressure is good for future decision-making.  

I sometimes dispair at the incompetence and spinelessness of Democratic Party leaders.  They criticize the netroots for nipping at their heels.  It will change but it takes work at every level and each battle is worth fighting even though one would think that everybody knows Fox is a Republican propoganda tool.

MODERATE DEMOCRATS don't love FOX NEWS!

We need to protect the best interests of our candidates and either find another network, don't broadcast at all, or cancel the event. The stakes are far too high and the potential for disaster far too great to experiment with playing on the other team's playing field for our Democratic Party partisan pre-caucus debate events.

This decision all but guarantees the early caucus will be a one-shot deal for Nevada and that the DNC will move to a Western Primary state in 2012.

This is very interesting.  I hope we find out the real deal  Good point on transparency.

Need proof about the effectiveness of the effort to remove Fox from the Nevada debates? The author of the blog post that Chris quotes and links here, Mike Zahara, reports this in the comment thread of that same blog post:

The overwhelming majority of our State Central Committee and our voters have a big problem with this decision. My email box is filled with the opinions of those who elected me to my position on the Board and others. 75% are in favor of my views on this matter.
My guess is that this will be candidate driven and they will wisely bow out.

Far too much risk involved so early in the game. It was just a poor decision, let's correct it and move on to other issues.

Don't let the Nevada democrats kick the can down the road and make it the responsibility of the primary candidates to avoid a Fox ambush. Contact Nevada political leaders and let them know  before August 14th they will be held accountable and responsible for fixing the mess they have created.

The buck stops with Reid.