Flood help weighs heavily in West Virginia governor's race

FILE - In this Tuesday June 28, 2016 file photo, Democratic gubernatorial candidate, and Greenbrier owner Jim Justice, as he gestures during an interview at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va. Justice, billionaire owner of The Greenbrier resort and Democratic nominee for governor, closed his hotel for business and opened it as a free shelter after the June 23 floods that killed 23 people, including 15 in Greenbrier County. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

CHARLESTON, W.Va. –  After deadly floods washed thousands of West Virginians out of their homes last month, about 700 victims bypassed the shelter at the high school gym and got rooms at a luxury resort fit for royalty.
Jim Justice, billionaire owner of The Greenbrier resort and Democratic nominee for governor, closed his hotel for business and opened it as a free shelter after the June 23 floods that killed 23 people, including 15 in Greenbrier County.
Shooing away election talk, Justice said he put his gubernatorial campaign on hold for the two weeks following the floods to focus on victims. But a boost of good will from voters seems likely in return.
There's a long history of storms and other natural disasters making or breaking political leaders — President Barack Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie drew praise for dropping partisan differences and working together after Superstorm Sandy in 2012, while then-President George W. Bush never fully recovered from his administration's response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005.
Justice, on the other hand, is just a candidate — but he is also West Virginia's richest man. His stately, white-columned hotel turned out to be right in the middle of the flood's worst destruction, putting him in a situation with little precedent in modern politics.
"Candidates have said things, made appeals or, normally, they criticize the response of elected officials, saying 'it's too slow, it's too little,' and that's how they win favor," said Virginia Tech associate public policy professor Patrick Roberts, who specializes in disaster politics. "But I can't think of an instance where someone had the personal resources to really offer."
Dating back to 1778, the 710-room Greenbrier resort has long been one of the jewels of West Virginia'stourism industry, hosting presidents and royalty and holding a once-secret underground bunker built for Congress in case of nuclear attack during the Cold War.
The Greenbrier's golf course temporarily became a flowing brown river, just two weeks before it was to have hosted a PGA Tour golf tournament — an event that was ultimately canceled.
Justice swears the storm's political implications never occurred to him.
"I don't do many things from a standpoint of what I think would be politically correct," Justice said. "From this standpoint, that hasn't even entered my mind, honest to Pete."
Justice's rival in November, Republican nominee Bill Cole, also stepped in to help after the floods, but with less fanfare. He helped secure tetanus shots for Nicholas County, brought port-a-potties to Clendenin, ran public service ads for donations at his car dealerships and collected 30 tons of goods for victims.
Cole traveled into flood-ravaged regions essentially every day for two weeks. He made some campaign appearances that had been on the books for a long time, but said it was a 90-10 split in favor of flood work.
Still, his efforts were overshadowed by Justice, who announced the reopening of The Greenbrier at a news conference with a banner reading "God Bless The Great People of West Virginia" draped behind him.
"I really went out of my way not to publicize it," Cole said, "then all of a sudden, it was, 'Where are you?' ... 'Why aren't you doing something?'"
Cole, the state Senate president, added in an interview, "To me, the fine line also exists if I'm out there looking for the TV cameras to get interviewed, then am I really helping or am I just looking for earned media?"
Cole said he's not judging Justice's actions. He considers the flood off limits politically.
Whether Justice's intentions are pure, political or somewhere in between, no one disputes that he made an impact on a region in ruin. Among other efforts, he has raised $1.9 million for flood relief through his charity, Neighbors Loving Neighbors, including checks from celebrities like NBA legend Jerry West and PGA Tour golfer Bubba Watson.
Another indirect benefit: Republican attacks temporarily fell silent against Justice for being delinquent on his bills, taxes, coal mine fines and other obligations.
Local residents sang Justice's praises when they walked the resort's halls to grab a free lunch late last month.
"It's great PR," said Marybeth Beller, a Marshall University political science professor. "The photos that played out in the (Charleston) Gazette-Mail (newspaper) showed ordinary working-class West Virginians all of sudden being able to stay at The Greenbrier with their families. It was a tremendous mark of generosity."
And whether he thought about it or not, likely a mark of good politics as well.

Trump vs. Clinton: Will Americans vote for the party of anger or the party of entitlement?

This is a huge weekend in The Bronx, with the rare “corpse flower” blooming at the New York Botanical Garden. The enormous plant flowers only once every 10 years and is noted for, as the garden gently puts it, the “infamous odor it releases during its brief 24-36-hour peak.”
Visitors say the odor resembles a “dead animal” or “rotting flesh,” while The Guardian newspaper found a 6-year-old boy who got a whiff and declared it “worse than a thousand pukes.”
Naturally, huge crowds are rushing to smell for themselves.
It could be a coincidence, but the bloom coincides with the start of the presidential general election, and there is another similarity as well: the contest between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is also a hold-your-nose affair that is attracting huge crowds.
Having spent most of the last two weeks at the parties’ spirited conventions, I return to earth not with an infamous odor but with an ominous feeling. It goes beyond the flaws that Clinton and Trump both feature and the devilish web of problems the next president will face.
My sense of dread stems from the fact that each party is speaking to a very different America. And not just about politics, but also about clashing concepts of pretty much everything.

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What those two Americas have in common is receding by the day, while their differences intensify and multiply.
Here are some observations, and which party is which is obvious: We have the party of anger on one hand and the party of entitlement on the other. One party is fed up, the other wants to be fed. One wants free markets, the other wants free stuff.
These are vast generalizations, but they contain much more than a kernel of truth. These differences dictate the choice of nominees and the policies they pursue.
So one party wants lower taxes, the other wants higher taxes, one wants fewer regulations, the other wants more.
Go a step further, and it’s Blue Lives Matter vs. Black Lives Matter. One party vows to destroy radical Islam, the other refuses to say its name.
Conventions always aim to offer contrasts as motivation, but this year’s polarization is more dangerous because neither candidate has much crossover appeal. Trump and Clinton deserve each other because they share the distinction of having the highest negative ratings ever held by presidential nominees.

Business empress, now super-surrogate: Can Ivanka Trump be dad’s deal-closer?

Ivanka Trump has shown her strength as a surrogate for her father in the boardroom and on the campaign trail. But as Election Day draws closer, the Donald Trump team faces a decision on how to balance the 34-year-old’s weighty responsibilities – as executive vice president of The Trump Organization, and top campaign adviser and advocate.
If the response to her recent convention address is any gauge of her impact, pollsters suggest the Trump campaign may want to do whatever it can to get Ivanka on the trail.
“She [was] off the charts,” Lee Carter, a pollster with Maslansky + Partners, told Fox News in reviewing the focus-group reaction to Ivanka right after her speech. “The bottom line is she is an amazing spokeswoman for him.”
Ivanka is seen as someone who could make a powerful case for her dad, potentially softening his image among female voters and others with whom the Republican’s numbers have lagged.
Asked for comment on what's next for the influential Trump daughter – and mother of three – the campaign did not elaborate but suggested she'll play an important role.
“She will be an incredible asset to the campaign and we are grateful for her support,” Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks told FoxNews.com.
The Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment.
Ivanka Trump's convention address in Cleveland was a clear message to independents and especially female voters as she touted her father’s record on hiring women, favoring quality over quotas and embracing talent.
“My father values talent. He recognizes real knowledge and skill when he finds it. He is color blind and gender neutral. He hires the best person for the job, period,” she told the audience at Quicken Loans Arena.
For many voters, it was their first chance to really hear from Ivanka.
But she's been an integral part of her father's business empire for years, and now the inner political circle – dual roles that could complicate efforts to deploy her on the trail.
Inside the Trump Organization, Ivanka primarily manages the real-estate components and is seen by many as the emerging face of the Trump brand. She is considered one of the few individuals Trump trusts to make deals on his behalf.
“I think her father really listens to her, and when I say listens to her I mean I think her father respects her a great deal, and not just because she’s his daughter,” businessman Carl Icahn told The New York Times.
Ivanka has publicly defended her father from claims of sexism and racism, while privately her influence over major campaign decisions is virtually unrivaled, a source with intimate knowledge of campaign operations told FoxNews.com. The source confirmed she played an influential role in the dismissal of former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.
“She is less concerned about the politics of the campaign and more focused on protecting the Trump brand,” the source said.
Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner also played a critical role in his selection of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as Trump’s running mate, according to Time magazine.
Sarah Lenti, a Denver-based Republican consultant, suggested the Trump daughter proved an asset in Cleveland and should be deployed to whatever extent possible.
“I think [Trump] needs to play the woman’s card as much as possible. She was highly relatable and is extremely well-liked among working- and middle-class women,” Lenti said.
During a recent focus group of women, Lenti found a majority of them disliked both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump -- but related to Ivanka.
“They wanted to hear more from her on the issues. They were really impressed with her grace and what she has accomplished in life,” Lenti told FoxNews.com. “Older and middle-aged women don’t want to hear about abortion. They want to hear about how to balance work and life. [Ivanka] is a mom of three, she works a full-time job and she has her own business. She gets it.”
A clearer picture will emerge in coming weeks, but a CNN/ORC post-convention poll found Donald Trump made gains both in terms of his personal image and his ability to manage foreign policy.
He still has ground to make up with women. A post-convention CBS News poll showed Clinton expanding her lead among women (though trailing among men).
The Trumps may have a chance, however, to shift those numbers. A pre-convention, six-week Morning Consult poll found while Clinton led Trump 44-36 percent among women, as many as 21 percent were undecided.
Ivanka Trump's presence on the campaign trail inevitably creates a rivalry of sorts with the famous daughter on the other side of the aisle, Chelsea Clinton, who introduced her mother for the Democrats' closing convention night in Philadelphia last Thursday.
Two days earlier, Chelsea Clinton was asked during a Facebook Live event what she would like to ask Ivanka. Clinton said it would be how her father would pay for his proposals.
“How would your father do that given it’s not something he’s spoken about. There are no policies on any of those fronts on his website. Not last week. Not this week. The how question is super important,” she said.
“When you look at those issues that certainly affect our generation so strongly, I think my mom has stronger plans and a stronger record for actually delivering for women and families,” Clinton added.
In a recent interview with Politico, Ivanka acknowledged voters may view her as a product of heritage, not hard work:
“I don’t have a problem if somebody who has never met me wants to say that I wouldn’t be where I was today without my family because you know what? They may be right. They probably are right. Who the hell knows? It’s an impossible argument.”

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Court ruling in murder of intern Chandra Levy reignites speculation on sensational Washington story

Charges dismissed against man convicted in Levy's death

It will again fuel the speculation. The wonder. The whispers.
The conjecture may not be fair. But it will inevitably happen.
A decision by Washington D.C. Superior Court Judge Robert Morin to “dismiss without prejudice” the murder conviction of Ingmar Guandique is likely to foster enduring chatter theory, which hasn’t dissipated in the nation’s capital in 15 years.
In 2010, the feds convicted Guandique -- an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador -- in the murder of then 24-year-old Washington intern Chandra Levy nine years earlier. Now prosecutors appealed to the court to drop the conviction as the court prepared for a retrial this fall because their case against Guandique crumbled.
The U.S. Attorney told the court that his office “could no longer prove the murder case against Mr. Guandique beyond a reasonable doubt.” Prosecutors based their conviction on the testimony of what later proved to be an unreliable informant who coughed up information from the slammer.
Prosecutors halted their efforts against Guandique following the revelation of an illegally-taped conversation between gang leader Armando Morales and bit-part actress Babs Proller.
Morales’s information was key in the conviction of Guandique. Morales and Proller got to know each other when they were neighbors. Proller’s recording purportedly reveals he lied on the witness stand during Guandique’s 2010 trial, which earned him a 60-year sentence for murdering Levy.
" 'Homeboy, I killed that bitch, but I didn’t rape her,’ ” Morales testified in court about what Guandique told him about Levy. Morales asked for installation in the government’s witness protection program for his testimony.
“It is now clear that the jailhouse informant, who was central to the government case, was a perjurer who too easily manipulated the prosecutors,” said Guandique’s attorneys.
And so, the question today is the same as it was 15 years ago: Who killed Chandra Levy?
The disappearance and murder of Levy has and always will be a Capitol Hill story. That’s because at the time of Levy’s death, she was having an affair with then-Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif.
Carnival atmospheres frequently descend on Capitol Hill: Donald Trump meeting with House and Senate Republicans as he did a few weeks ago. A lineup of baseball stars like Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa appearing at a hearing on doping. Bono and Alicia Keys cruising through the Capitol’s marble corridors in an effort to secure funding for AIDS research.
But no one has seen a journalism jamboree like the one that unfolded around Condit in the spring and summer of 2001. The Levy case engrossed the entire press corps. News crews from around the world encamped on the Capitol.
Reporters staked out Condit’s office. They stalked him near the House gym in the Rayburn House Office Building. They pursued him in and out at the House Agriculture Committee. They waited at all hours for Condit at his home in Washington’s Adams-Morgan neighborhood. They even hung out in front of the home of his chief of staff in the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Va.
There were no suspects in the Levy case. But Condit was eerily mute. His quiet fomented disquiet. What did he know? What did he do? Did he do anything?
Prosecutors called Condit to testify in the 2010 Guandique case. When Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Haines presented Condit in court, she noted that the former congressman “was having an affair with Chandra Levy.” She later said those rendezvous had “nothing to do with the murder of Chandra Levy.”
But earlier this year, Guandique’s defense team planned to introduce evidence at a retrial that could implicate Condit.
“Condit was fully aware of the cost he could pay if his affair with Ms. Levy became public,” said the defense in court filings. “He therefore had an obvious motive to kill Ms. Levy in order to keep the relationship secret, and an equally powerful motive to cover up the circumstances of her death if she died while she was with him -- either through intentional conduct or otherwise.”
Back in 2001, all eyes -- including those of media and law enforcement -- focused on Condit.
The case baffled investigators. There was no murder weapon. They found no body (until 2002). No obvious motive. There was cryptic information from Levy’s computer internet searches about the Pierce-Klingle Mansion in the middle of Washington’s Rock Creek Park.
In May, 2002, a man searching for turtles (can this get any weirder?) stumbled upon Levy’s skeletal remains.
Notably on Levy’s computer, there was also a search for Baskin-Robbins. After leaving Congress, Condit operated two Baskin-Robbins franchises near Phoenix.
Baskin-Robbins later sued Condit and his family for failing to pay franchise and advertising fees to the company.
Police eventually ruled Condit out as a suspect. He conceded in an interview he had a tryst with a woman who was nearly three decades his junior. But authorities cleared Condit, despite finding him elusive. Flight attendant Anne Marie Smith also came forward, saying she too had an affair with Condit.
The congressman then refused to submit to a police polygraph.
Is there any reason this story wouldn’t consume media, in Washington or elsewhere?
Condit tried to run for re-election. He lost his primary to a former staffer, Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif. Condit’s son Chad ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2012.
Guandique turned to Levy’s parents when he appeared in court six years ago.
“I’m very sorry for what happened to your daughter,” he said. “But I had nothing to do with it. I am innocent.”
And still, no one knows who did it.
But one thing is clear: the recording Babs Proller made of Armando Morales is the lynchpin to clearing Guandique. That’s the only reason people in Washington are chattering about this case again.
In a final, warped twist, Babs Proller appeared briefly in an episode of “House of Cards.” In a non-speaking role, Proller appears sitting on the dais in the House chamber when President Frank Underwood addresses Congress for his State of the Union message. Proller’s position in the chamber is usually reserved for the clerk of the House during such elite meetings.
The entire Chandra Levy case revolves around quintessential Washington intrigue, even 15 years down the road. A congressman’s liaisons with an intern. Power. An unsolved murder. A media circus. All inside the Beltway touchstones worthy of the program, “House of Cards.”
It appears the government formed its case against Guandique on a house of cards. And perhaps it’s only appropriate that an actress who appeared on “House of Cards” helped immolate the prosecution and the conviction of Guandique.
Who killed Chandra Levy?
Well, it’s like something right out of “House of Cards.”

McConnell, Ryan weigh in on Trump-Khan controversy

The leaders of the Republican-controlled House and Senate on Sunday made statements regarding the firestorm of words between party presidential nominee Donald Trump and Khirz Khan, the Muslim father of an Army captain killed in the line of duty.
Khan, during a speech at last week’s Democratic National Convention, said Trump has "sacrificed nothing and no one" for America.
Trump responded by essentially saying he’s made many sacrifices but drew criticism by questioning why Khan’s wife, Ghazala, stood silently on stage during her husband’s speech.
“She had nothing to say,” Trump said on ABC. “Maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me."
Khan had said she didn't speak because she is still overwhelmed by grief and still cannot look at photos of her son without crying.
Since the controversy started late last week, Khirz Khan has called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan to condemn Trump’s remarks.

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In their statements, McConnell and Ryan each praised Khan’s son, Humayun, who was killed in Iraq in 2004, and said they disagreed with Trump’s immigration position.
Trump said this spring, in the aftermath of several terror attacks by radicalized Islamists, that Muslims should be temporarily banned from entering the United States. He has since scaled backed that position, to keeping out people from Syria and other countries that are hotbeds for radical Islamic terrorism.
However, neither McConnell or Ryan directly criticized Trump or his comments about Ghazala Kahn.
 “Captain Khan was an American hero, and like all Americans I’m grateful for the sacrifices that selfless young men like Capt. Khan and their families have made in the war on terror,” said McConnell, of Kentucky. “And as I have long made clear, I agree with the Kahns and families across the country that a travel ban on all members of a religion is simply contrary to American values.”
Ryan, of Wisconsin, wrote: “As I have said on numerous occasions, a religious test for entering our country is not reflective of these fundamental values. I reject it. … Many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in our military, and made the ultimate sacrifice. Captain Khan was one such brave example.”
Washington Democrats almost immediatley criticized Ryan for also not pulling his endorsement of Trump.
Kahn said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he “appreciates” Trump calling his son a “hero,” but said the praise “sounds disingenuous.”
Trump on Sunday wrote two Twitter posts on the issue:
 “I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention. Am I not allowed to respond? Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me!”
He then tweeted: “Captain Khan, killed 12 years ago, was a hero, but this is about RADICAL ISLAMIC TERROR and the weakness of our "leaders" to eradicate it!”
On Sunday, Ghazala Khan further defended her actions on stage and attacked Trump.
“Donald Trump said that maybe I wasn’t allowed to say anything,” she wrote in The Washington Post opinion section. “That is not true. My husband asked me if I wanted to speak, but I told him I could not. … When Donald Trump is talking about Islam, he is ignorant. …  Donald Trump said he has made a lot of sacrifices. He doesn’t know what the word sacrifice means.”
Trump’s original response sparked immediate outrage on social media -- both because they critiqued a mourning mother and because many considered them racist and anti-Muslim.
On Saturday, Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said: "The speaker has made clear many times that he rejects this idea, and himself has talked about how Muslim-Americans have made the ultimate sacrifice for this country."
Hillary Clinton campaign spokeswoman Karen Finney tweeted: “Trump is truly shameless to attack the family of an American hero. Many thanks to the Khan family for your sacrifice, we stand with you.”
Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, later said in a statement: "I was very moved to see Ghazala Khan stand bravely and with dignity in support of her son on Thursday night. ... This is a time for all Americans to stand with the Khans and with all the families whose children have died in service to our country."
Karen Meredith, a member of Gold Star Families, a support group for families who lost loved ones in the Iraq War, said Capt. Humayun Khan’s parents “showed great courage” by standing up in front of the Democratic convention and that for Trump “to insult their culture by saying that is why she did not speak is offensive.”
On Sunday, Khizr Khan also attempted to persuade voters not to vote for Trump, saying, “I appeal to them not to vote for hate-mongering. Vote for freedom.”
He also implied that about of a third of the responses he’s gotten from Americans are from Republican politicians but said he would not disclose names.

Clinton acknowledges hard work ahead, frustrated by America’s ‘caricature’ of her

EXCLUSIVE: Hillary Clinton acknowledges that Americans have a legitimate concern about her trustworthiness, particularly related to her email scandal and the Benghazi terror attacks, but criticized those who have attempted to undermine her Democratic presidential campaign and make a “caricature” out of her, in an exclusive interview with “Fox News Sunday.”
“I think that it's fair for Americans to have questions,” Clinton said, in an interview taped Saturday. “Every time I run for an office, though, oh my goodness, all of these caricatures come out of nowhere. And people begin to undermine me because when I left office as secretary of state, 66 percent of Americans approved of what I do.”
According to a Gallup poll cited by Poltifact, Hillary Clinton had a favorability rating of 64 percent when she left her role as secretary state in February 2013. Her rating declined following criticism over the deadly attack of the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi and her handling of emails while at the State Department.
On the issue of two-thirds of Americans having concerns about her trustworthiness, Clinton repeated what she has often said, “I know that I have work to do.”
In the wide-ranging interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace, Clinton said that evidence shows that the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin hacked into Democratic National Committee emails and appeared to time their damaging release to her party’s nomination convention last week.
She stopped short of saying that Putin wants Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has “praised” Putin, to win the White House.

However, Clinton, in her first interview since she accepted the presidential nomination Thursday, said the Putin government appears to have made a “deliberate effort to try to affect the election,” which “raises national security issues.”

On the issue of the Benghazi terror strikes, Clinton denied telling family members of people killed in the Sept. 11, 2012, incident on a U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, that the attack was sparked by an anti-Islam video and was not terrorism.
She instead suggested the family members misunderstood her because they were overwhelmed by grief.
“I understand the grief and the incredible sense of loss that can motivate that,” Clinton said. “As other members of families who’ve lost loved ones have said, that's not what they heard. I don't hold any ill feeling for someone who, in that moment, may not fully recall everything that was or wasn't said.”
Clinton again said she “made a mistake” by using a private server system to send and receive official emails when she was secretary of state. But she held firm that she did not communicate classified information and appeared to shift the blame onto the roughly 300 people with whom she communicated via email.
“I relied on and had every reason to rely on the judgments of the professionals with whom I worked,” Clinton said. “So in retrospect, maybe some people are saying, ‘Well, those -- among those 300 people -- they made the wrong call.’ At the time, there was no reason, in my view, to doubt the professionalism and the determination by the people who work every single day on behalf of our country.”
She also disagreed with the assertion that FBI Director James Comey, at the conclusion earlier this summer of the agency’s investigation into the matter, said she misled the public when she said she never transmitted classified information.
“That's not what I heard Director Comey say,” Clinton said. “Comey said that my answers were truthful and what I've said is consistent with what I have told the American people.”
In an appearance earlier this month before the House Oversight and Government Reform panel, FBI Director James Comey told lawmakers, “there was classified material emailed,” in response to questions about Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.
Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., asked the FBI director: “Secretary Clinton said there was nothing marked classified on her e-mails, either sent or received. Was that true?”
“That’s not true,” Comey replied.
In a press briefing prior to his House testimony, Comey said, “Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.”
In the "Fox News Sunday" interview, Clinton, who is in a close race with Trump for the White House, also said that she would not attempt to overturn the Supreme Court’s ruling on Second Amendment rights, instead urging Congress to enact tighter gun-control measures.

Team Trump: Debate schedule instant replay of Dems' blindside on Sanders

The Commission on Presidential Debates on Sunday issued another statement in an apparent effort to end criticism by Donald Trump’s campaign about two of the events being scheduled during televised NFL games -- and suggested Trump is fighting a losing battle.
“It is impossible to avoid all sporting events, and there have been nights on which debates and games occurred in most election cycles,” the commission wrote. “A debate has never been rescheduled as a result.”
Two of the three debates scheduled in September and October will be televised during NFL games.
On Sept. 26, the night of the first debate, ESPN will carry the Monday night game featuring the Falcons vs. the Saints. On Oct. 9, the second debate will air opposite the Sunday night game featuring the Giants vs. the Packers on NBC.
The commission said officials started working on the debate scheduled more than 18 months ago to identify potential scheduling conflicts with religious and federal holidays, baseball league playoff games, NFL games and other events.
“As a point of reference, in a four-year period, there are four general election debates … and approximately 1,000 NFL games."

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The commission said the final debate dates are picked a year in advance so TV networks have “maximum lead time and predictability in scheduling these extremely important civic education forums."
“The CPD believes the dates for the 2016 debates will serve the American public well,” the commission also said.
Trump said Saturday that the football league complained in a letter to him about the debate schedule.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy acknowledged Saturday that the league would like at least one of the debates rescheduled but tweeted: "We did not send a letter to Mr Trump."
The issue follows criticism that the Democratic National Committee intentionally scheduled primary debates on a Saturday night to minimize audiences as a way of protecting frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
And recently leaked emails show that the DNC indeed intended to undermine the campaign of Clinton primary rival Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“You know, Hillary Clinton wants to be against the NFL,” Trump told ABC’s “This Week," "maybe like she did with Bernie Sanders, where they were on Saturday nights when nobody's home."
Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort seemed to suggested on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the dates are still being negotiated.
“We're going to sit down with the commissioner and talk with them,” he said. “The DNC hack showed you that the Clinton campaign was working to schedule debates against Sanders which have the least possible viewing audience. ... So, I'm not sure what the dates are going to be, ultimately. … But we're not going to fall ploy to the Democrat -- to the Hillary Clinton ploy that she did against Bernie Sanders.”
The Clinton campaign has not comment on Trump's assertion.
Trump did allow that three debates were "fine" and that he'd rather have three than one.