In truth this would have been absolutely necessary anyway, meaning this is a smoke and mirrors show. Law states one candidate may not appear on a network unless all other candidates get the same time as well. Meaning at least 16 candidates would have needed to be awarded time and there is no way NBC would allow that. They just get some good publicity by doing it this way and not by calling it a hiatus.
In truth this would have been absolutely necessary anyway, meaning this is a smoke and mirrors show. Law states one candidate may not appear on a network unless all other candidates get the same time as well. Meaning at least 16 candidates would have needed to be awarded time and there is no way NBC would allow that. They just get some good publicity by doing it this way and not by calling it a hiatus.
I think it's exactly this. They get a good excuse to let him go. I believe he'd still be there if he wasn't running for candidacy.
I agree, especially considering it had fairly good ratings for a late in the year series.