Game on: Sanders says he will attend MSNBC debate

Sen. Bernie Sanders will attend Thursday's debate hosted by MSNBC, he told the hosts of "Morning Joe" on Wednesday.

"The answer is yes, and you know that I have always wanted more debates and Secretary Clinton, in the beginning, was not so interested in more debates," Sanders said when asked directly whether he is going to show up. "Now suddenly they're very interested in more debates. What I wanted to see is on top of New Hampshire, three more debates."


Democratic National Committee spokesperson Luis Miranda said that with Sanders attending, the debate will be sanctioned.

The game of debate chicken between Sanders and Hillary Clinton has been ongoing since MSNBC announced they were planning to hold an unsanctioned debate. The Sanders and Clinton camps had agreed in principle to schedule at least three additional debates beyond the DNC's current debate schedule, but the Clinton camp demurred when Sanders wanted specific locations and times of those three added debates. On Tuesday, Clinton threw the ball into Sanders' court, saying in interviews she was going to show up on Thursday night with or without Sanders.

A source familiar with the negotiations said that the Clinton and Sanders camps have not yet agreed to the terms on the three debates to be added.

In an email on Tuesday, Miranda said if the candidates agree, they will sanction and manage additional debates.

"We are in touch with both campaigns, actively working to resolve outstanding questions. Ultimately, as we said in Sunday’s statement, if our candidates agree, we will sanction and manage additional debates in our primary schedule, inclusive of the MSNBC debate in New Hampshire this week," Miranda said.

