At a February 1997 Harvard Institute of Politics panel looking back at the 1996 election, top Clinton aide George Stephanopoulos discussed his campaign's negotiations with the Commission on Presidential Debates and the Bob Dole campaign.

STEPHANOLOPOLOUS: "[The Dole campaign] didn't have leverage going into negotiations. They were behind. They needed to make sure Perot wasn't in it. As long as we would agree to Perot not being in it, we could get everything else we wanted going in. We got our time frame, we got our length, we got our moderator."

CHRIS MATTHEWS: "Why didn't you have the debates when people were watching the election?"

STEPHANOPOLOUS: "Because we didn't want them to pay attention. And the debates were a metaphor for the campaign. We wanted the debates to be a non-event."