For the last solid year, Hillary Clinton has allowed her good friend and ally Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to take a virtually endless stream of abuse from the Democrat base for obviously protecting her from debating in public. The theory was that Clinton was supposed to walk easily to the nomination, and the party did not want Clinton to risk bruising in a highly publicized debate moment.

Of course, that reality has not materialized, and Team Clinton has belatedly realized that the one place where Clinton’s stultifying delivery doesn’t hurt her is in debates, where she actually performs pretty well against Sanders. She’s also probably noticed that the enormous exposure the Republican candidates have gotten from debates is part of the reason they are all (with the exception of Trump) beating her in head to head polls. So, accordingly, under the bus goes DWS. Here she is speaking to Chris Matthews last night:

Clinton: Look, Chris, what I’ve said, through my campaign is, that I would look forward to another debate. I am, you know, anxious, if um, we can get something set up to be able to be there, and so let’s try to make it happen.

Matthews: Would you like the chairman, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to approve the MSNBC/NBC debate next week?

Clinton: I would.. I would like the chairman of the party, and the party, and the campaigns, to agree that we can debate in New Hampshire next week. That is what I hope will happen.

National lead aside, Clinton knows that she cannot lose Iowa and New Hampshire back to back and expect to come out still ahead. That is why she needs a major event to save her bacon, like a debate. Expect the DNC to fully comply with Hillary’s stated desire.