GOP Presidential Campaigns Meet To Shake Up Primary Debate Process

Representatives for many of the Republican presidential candidates have gathered tonight near Washington, DC to work on reshaping their party's primary debates.

The meeting comes in the wake of last week's widely-criticized debate, hosted by CNBC, which drew sharp rebukes from the Republican National Committee as well as many of the candidates.

The campaign of former neurosurgeon Ben Carson organized Sunday night's summit. Carson came out swinging following the debate in Colorado, saying it "so clearly demonstrated a need for change in format," and criticizing what he called the "gotcha questions" posed by the moderators.

Carson’s campaign said they coordinated the meeting with the campaigns of Donald Trump, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. (Their low poll numbers relegated both Jindal and Graham to the so-called "undercard" debate last week).

Representatives from the campaigns of former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Ohio Gov. John Kasich are also attending.

"We're not making any demands," Carson campaign manager Barry Bennett said as he arrived for the meeting at northern Virginia hotel. "We're just going to have a conversation to see if there's anything we can agree on."

Bennett, a GOP consultant who has advised Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, was a driving force behind the meeting.

He told ABC News that the agenda for the session would include five key areas for discussion: Opening and closing statements; tighter restrictions on the theme of the debates; the location of the debates; the number of people included and qualifications for participation; and the format of the debates.

Meanwhile, the RNC was taking steps to quell an all-out revolt by the campaigns.

A committee official confirmed to ABC News that a letter was sent on Sunday from RNC Chief of Staff Katie Walsh to 14 GOP campaign managers saying they were appointing Sean Cairncross, chief operating officer of the RNC, to take the central role in the debate process. The staffing news was first reported by Politico.

Ahead of the meeting, Bennett said he did not expect all these issues to be resolved.

"I am not confident, but hopeful that we can coalesce around at least a few things," Bennett told ABC News Sunday afternoon. "I am not expecting to have the problem solved. This is just step one."

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