Sen. Bernie Sanders arrives at Drake University campus with his wife Jane Sanders before the Democratic presidential primary debate on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa. | AP Photo Sanders fights CBS move to change debate format after Paris

DES MOINES – With the rest of the world riveted on Paris, Bernie Sanders’ top aides fought hard to preserve his 90-second opening remarks – even as sponsors of tonight's debate demanded time to discuss the terrorist slaughter of 120 civilians.

In a conference call with all three campaigns hours after the attacks in Paris, executives with CBS, the host of the debate here, suggested changing the format of the forum to carve out more time to discuss the suddenly-imperative issue of keeping the violence in Europe from lapping over to U.S. cities, campaign sources said.


But Sanders' team forcefully opposed any changes – and, to the amazement of the network and the other Democrats who decried his tone-deafness, crowed publicly about limiting the foreign policy component to spend more time discussing economic inequality and other issues central to the Vermont senator’s candidacy.

“We had agreed on opening and closing statements, the timing of those," Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said about the debate format that was settled before the attacks on Friday. "Others attempted to change those. We pushed back on those and ended up prevailing. We're very happy about that.”

When asked for more details, he smiled: "Let's just say we won."

CBS, according to people with knowledge of the call, also wanted to add more questions about terrorism and foreign policy later in the debate. Sanders campaign officials said they didn’t object to the addition of other foreign policy questions – and were happy to have a discussion on those issues.

But when a reporter suggested to Sanders team that the changes seemed appropriate in light of the biggest terrorist attack in over a decade, Mark Longabaugh, Sanders senior strategist, said: "Of which we have a minute and a half to speak to that. I don't even know what the argument is about."

If the reaction on social media – and among his flabbergasted opponents -- is any measure, the argument isn’t likely to end after the Drake University debate. Sanders’ campaign resistance to embracing a foreign policy discussion drew immediate criticism from some Democrats, who questioned his preparation to be commander in chief.

"Sanders' pre-debate strategy absolutely bizarre, disturbing,"tweeted

Jeremy Bird, a top organizing staffer for President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign. "Being president means dealing w crisis & world events. Can't hide from it."

The Paris attacks notwithstanding, the second debate presents a critical moment for Sanders’ suddenly stalled campaign -- he is trailing Clinton by 19 points nationally, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released Thursday -- and the debate presents one of his last opportunities before the holidays to show that he has the stature to seriously challenge a former secretary of state and battle-tested presidential candidate who easily bested in their first confrontation a month ago.

Over the past few weeks, his campaign brain trust – led by Weaver and veteran consultant Tad Devine -- pushed him to go on offense against Clinton (often against the candidate’s inclination) highlighting the sharpest contrasts with Clinton on economic policy and domestic issues. But the ISIL attacks in Paris instantly upended the priorities of the Democratic field and placed Sanders on his shakiest terrain.

Foreign policy has never been at the top of Sanders’ to-do list, and his campaign said Friday night as the magnitude of the carnage in Paris became apparent, that they were planning no major course corrections and wanted to continue to talk about the backbone of Sanders’ campaign -- income inequality, fighting Wall Street and protecting unions.

Weaver argued it was important to keep the 90 seconds allotted to an opening statement, instead of cutting it down to 30 seconds, because Sanders still needs to introduce himself to the country. “A large number [of Americans] have never seen Bernie Sanders speak before, or hear his message,” he explained.

Weaver said the campaign was not trying to avoid a conversation about foreign policy with Hillary Clinton, even though Sanders has been criticized for a lack of foreign policy experience. "We're going to have a discussion about that issue, which is extremely important, how we deal with ISIS,” Weaver said. “We're going to have a discussion about all the other important issues facing Americans -- income inequality, college affordability. We're going to have a debate about a wide range of issues.”

Spokespeople for the Clinton and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley didn’t immediately comment on Sanders’ request or the details of the conference call. But a senior Clinton adviser, speaking to POLITICO late Friday, said her campaign had no objections to adding extra time for Paris.