The last time there were two such strong "third-party" candidates was in 2000 when columnist Patrick Buchanan ran on the right and consumer advocate Ralph Nader ran on the left. Polls showed solid majorities of the voting public (64 percent vs. 25 percent in one poll) wanted to see Buchanan and Nader included in a four-way presidential debate. But the CPD had erected a new barrier: these well-known candidates could not join the debates unless they were polling at 15 percent.
It was an arbitrary barrier -- aimed at exclusion. It was not aimed at eliminating "nonviable candidates," but to prevent an outsider from becoming viable. How do we know? Less than 18 months earlier, Minnesota Public Radio and the Minnesota League of Women Voters chapter had included third-party candidate Jesse Ventura in a series of gubernatorial debates alongside the Democratic and Republican candidates, though he was at only 10 percent in polls before the debates began. Ventura, a mayor and talk-radio host, ended up becoming governor with 37 percent of the vote, thanks largely to his inclusion in debates.
This fall, TV networks would be wise to follow a recommendation made 16 years ago by the Appleseed Citizens' Task Force on Fair Debates connected to American University's law school: Include presidential candidates who are on enough state ballots to have a mathematical chance of winning, if they either "register at 5 percent in national public opinion polls OR register a majority in national public opinion polls asking eligible voters which candidates they would like to see included in the presidential debates."
In the economic realm, if Coke and Pepsi publicly and proudly announced that they were combining forces to exclude and silence any competition, one might expect anti-trust action . . . even from usually lethargic federal regulators.
In the political realm, after Ds and Rs unabashedly announced that they formed a commission for the purpose of maintaining their duopoly of power, one might expect a reaction from TV news executives -- especially in an election year when the D and R nominees are so widely disliked and mistrusted.
Here's an appropriate reaction from TV news decision-makers: "Sorry, CPD, we don't need you to tell us who should be excluded from this fall's debates. In the interests of democracy, we'll be televising four-person debates."
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