Getty 2016 Disappointing debate ratings spark Democratic campaign complaints The DNC comes under fire for Saturday's low viewership figures.

DES MOINES — It took less than an hour after Nielsen ratings revealed a disappointing 8.5 million person audience for last night’s CBS Democratic debate before campaigns resumed their griping about the Democratic National Committee’s debate schedule — a point of contention that’s threatening to flare up yet again.

“We can’t fool ourselves — the Republicans are eating our lunch in terms of attention and viewership because of the unprecedented, unilateral, and arbitrary way the DNC Chair determined this schedule,” said Lis Smith, deputy campaign manager for Martin O’Malley. “It’s clear we need to open up the process, have more debates, and engage more voters in this process."


The complaints are just the latest in a series of tense exchanges between the national party committee and the campaigns not belonging to Hillary Clinton. Many Democrats and Republicans have accused the party of shielding the front-runner by scheduling the debates at times — such as Saturday evenings — that are likely to draw fewer viewers than the GOP events, which the DNC routinely denies.

"During the height of the Clinton-Obama primary in 2008, the highest-rated debate was 10.7 million, so 8.5 million is a strong showing historically for a presidential primary, and very strong for a Saturday night," said DNC spokesman Eric Walker. "Our debate in January is coming out of an NFL playoff doubleheader, so we’re looking forward to enjoying a larger audience for that debate as we get closer to the early primaries and caucuses. Also keep in mind that the RNC scheduled their three major network debates on the weekend as well."

But Saturday night’s broadcast was seen by roughly seven million fewer people than the previous Democratic debate, and the next two are also scheduled for potentially low-viewership weekends: the Saturday night before Christmas, and the Sunday night of the Martin Luther King Day weekend, during the National Football League playoffs.

Campaign staffers were surprised Sunday by the low figure, expecting a viewership comparable — if a bit less than — October’s CNN debate in Las Vegas.

But the issue has been brewing for months. O’Malley, in particular, made the debate schedule — including the fact that the party has only scheduled six, roughly half the number on the GOP side — an issue earlier this year, and Bernie Sanders has also advocated for more debates at more convenient times as a way of attracting more eyeballs.

The low number of debates and weekend timing make it likely that the Republican candidates will get far more exposure than the Democrats, DNC critics say.

Clinton has remained largely silent, saying only that she will attend whichever debates the DNC sanctions.

“Look, there was a clear intent to bury these debates to the benefit of Clinton,” said another Democratic campaign official on Sunday afternoon. “And it is doing a disservice to the Democratic Party. The GOP is blowing out numbers — and we are protecting Hillary Clinton."

Both of the last two Republican debates were held on smaller networks than CBS — CNBC and Fox Business — and they got over 13 million viewers. The first two Republican debates — on CNN and Fox News — each broke 20 million.

Still, none of the Democratic campaigns projected any plan to follow up with the DNC on Sunday, even after the Sanders team fought over the debate format with CBS on a conference call that included the committee and other campaigns before Saturday night’s debate.