Now that it’s settled that Pres. Obama will address the Congress — and the nation — on the jobs issue next Thursday, MSNBC has announced plans for the GOP debate the night before. The debate, moderated by NBC’s Brian Williams and Politico’s John Harris at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, CA, begins at 8pmET and will run until 9:45pmET.
At that point, MSNBC’s primetime hosts Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz, Lawrence O’Donnell and Rev. Al Sharpton will analyze the debate. Michael Steele and Steve Schmidt will provide analysis from the GOP perspective. MSNBC will re-air the debate in its entirety at MidnightET.
The debate was first announced last November and was originally scheduled for May but was pushed back because no GOP candidates had announced they were running.
More details after the jump…
NEW YORK, NY – September 1, 2011 – MSNBC will broadcast the GOP Presidential Candidates debate at the Reagan Library from 8-9:45p ET on Wednesday, September 7. Live analysis will follow the conclusion of the debate, beginning at 9:45p ET and continuing until midnight ET. Debate analysis will come from MSNBC’s primetime anchors including Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews from Reagan Library, Ed Schultz, Lawrence O’Donnell and Rev. Al Sharpton. MSNBC’s political analysts will also weigh in, including Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson, Fmr. RNC Chairman Michael Steele, The Nation’s Melissa Harris-Perry, Huffington Post’s Howard Fineman and Alex Wagner, Georgetown University’s Michael Eric Dyson and GOP Strategist Steve Schmidt. MSNBC will re-air the debate in its entirety as well as the post-debate analysis at midnight ET.