As it doubles down on news during the day, MSNBC is sending several anchors and correspondents to Cleveland to cover the first 2016 GOP primary debate.
While Fox News will air three hours of candidate appearances on Thursday — a one-hour forum at 5 p.m. ET and the actual debate at 9 p.m. ET — MSNBC is sending Andrea Mitchell to anchor her 12 p.m. show and Steve Kornacki to anchor at 4 p.m. Chris Matthews will also be in Cleveland to anchor a two-hour Hardball (7-9 p.m.) plus another live hour at 11 p.m. ET. Then on Friday morning, Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist will be live from Flannery’s Pub to break down the key debate moments. MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt, Jane Timm and Beth Fouhy will also contribute live reports from Cleveland.
As we reported yesterday, Fox News has its own debate day coverage in the works.