the other co-chair is mike mccurry, a communication specialist and professor of public theology at wesley seminary here in washington, d.c. he was also the spokesman at the white house and the state department under president bill clinton. martha, we'll start with you. the two candidates of the 2016 debate, donald trump and hillary clinton, were not your run-of-the-mill candidates. they were in their way very special, so i'm asking you, how did that -- martha: yeah. marvin: how did that specialness affect the way in which you prepared for the debate? martha: whatever you prepare for a debate, i approached it in the same way i approached the vice-presidential debate. it is the super bowl of debates. without question. all the networks had done primary debates, but when you go into a general election debate and the candidates as you said are special, think you have to think about i do that. you have to think about how you ask the question. but that's the same thing i would have done no matter who the candidates were. marvin: nothing special in the preparation? martha: the special part of the

have a specific question about some and mike mccurry alluded to. that's the exclusion criteria. this is a bipartisan group >> at the nonpartisan group. all correct view. it's always been headed by the former heads of prominent officials said the democrat or republican party. he was founded by democrat and republican parties. >> is a very specific one and i hope you can actually say it. your criteria is 15% and the quote, unquote major poll. when some people came and said the data are criteria that 50% of the american people wanted somebody else to be on that they should be included as well. paul kirk and alan simpson on the board said that's a ridiculous criteria. the only question is who you want to be president. there is a problem here and the problem is no poll asks the american public who they want. it's a very specific question. >> investor question. >> no i haven't. >> no poll is asking the american public who they want to be president. >> what is your question? >> that's a different question. why aren't you abiding by your criteria? >> we are. we been sued in every electi

>> if you think about it, that comment in terms of having them on camera was something that mike mccurry said it needs to be reexamined. it's not a question of saying this is going to happen or not but what i think in washington too often we say this is how it's always been done. let's keep it going. i think there's a healthy dialogue that can happen and say what would make these more informative? what is a better tool to have them at a more adult level as opposed to having -- and maybe they come out similar. maybe there's tweets that make them more accessible. maybe we do things to allow members of the public to ask. but for too long i think that we've had this very stale operation which is all the mainstream media folks get front row seats and it's a question of here are the broadcast networks, here's the "washington post" and "new york times." great. but what about some of the conservative media having some of the prize seats in there? what about having some of the top bloggers being able to come in? i think that's a conversation worth having. i think there's a need to at least have t

the other co-chair is mike mccurry, a communication specialist and professor of public theology at wesley seminary here in washington, d.c. he was also the spokesman at the white house and the state department under president bill clinton. martha, we'll start with you. the two candidates of the 2016 debate, donald trump and hillary clinton, were not your run-of-the-mill candidates. they were in their way very special, so i'm asking you, how did that -- martha: yeah. marvin: how did that specialness affect the way in which you prepared for the debate? martha: whatever you prepare for a debate, i approached it in the same way i approached the vice-presidential debate. it is the super bowl of debates. without question. all the networks had done primary debates, but when you go into a general election debate and the candidates as you said are special,think you have to think about i do that. you have to think about how you ask the question. but that's the same thing i would have done no matter who the candidates were. marvin: nothing special in the prep pasion? martha: the special part of the

the other cochair is mike mccurry, a communication specialist and professor of public theology and washingtond.c. he was also the spokesman at the white house and the state department under president bill clinton. >> the two candidates of the 2016 debate, donald trump and hillary clinton, were not your run-of-the-mill candidates. , how did thatu way inness affect the which you prepared for the debate. martha: whatever you prepare for a debate, i have posted in the same way i approached the vice president shall debate. -- presidential debate. it is the super bowl of debates. when you go into a general election debate and the candidates are special, i do think you have to think about that. youhave to think about how ask the question. the special part of the preparation is that you prepare for that candidate. you look at both candidates over the campaign. you want to ask questions in a way you think will get answers. it was a town hall debate so we look at the questions that the people were presenting and whichd amongst ourselves ones would be best for the candidates. i do not mean, i will trick

>> is-- if you think about it that comment for what it's worth is something mike mccurry has said hehought was a mistake and needs to be re-examined and i think it's not a question of saying this will happen or this will not happen, but i think in washington too often we say this is how it's always been done, let's keep it going. there is a healthy dialogue that can happen with the white house correspondents association and other media members to say what is making this more informative, with a better tool to have a more door-- adult level as opposed to-- maybe a gimmick amount similar. of it could be tweets that make it more successful. may be members of the public can ask the white house press office something, but for too long i think we have had this very stale operation, which is all the mainstream media folks get front-row seats and it's a question here's the broadcast network, here's the "washington post" and "new york times"-- great, but what about some of the conservative media having some of the prizes seats? what about having some of the top command? i think that's a conve

spicer: that comment was something mike mccurry has said he thought that was a mistake and needs to beed. it is not a question of saying this will happen or not. but in washington, too often we say this is how it has been done, so let us keep it going. i think there is a healthy dialogue that can happen saying what would make these more informative? what is a better tool to have these be at more of an adult level? maybe we do things that allow members of the public to ask the white house press office something. but for too long, we have had a very stale operation which is all the mainstream media folks get front-row seats. here are the broadcast networks, "washington post," "new york times." but what about some of the conservative media having some of the prized seats in there? what about some of the conservative media getting prized seats in there, i think that's a conversation worth having. i think there's a need to at least have the conversation and discuss it. as long as you guys talk about transparency let's have the discussion. mr. sherman: who would be in your front row? mr. spi

also, i think mike mccurry did a great job in a very difficult time for his boss and he's someone whohose -- i don't want to leave anyone out but those two i've known for a long time and i look at them. >> there's this atheist groups, we had one of representatives on at the beginning of show. our viewers have written in all morning long. his name is nick fish. they are putting up these billboards, these signs. >> that again. >> they do that every year. >> make christmas great again, skip church. here he is from earlier on our show and we'll get your reaction. >> what we're doing is reaching out to people in these communities who feel pressured to go to church who don't believe in the religious component of things. we want people to know in those communities who feel alone that they are not. i'm not telling christians not to go to church. i want to tell people who no longer christians, people who don't believe anymore, they don't need to go to church. i want to help people and donate no charities. >> every year, they buy billboards to get this conversation started. >> like christmas ca