In the
lead-up to the 1988 debates, the chairs of the Democratic and Republican
National Committees appointed
themselves as heads of a group they created called the Commission on
Presidential Debates and began challenging the League's sponsorship by
scheduling their own string of debates. After the Bush and Dukakis campaign
organizations negotiated an agreement, representatives went to the League,
asking them to sign on.
Here is
what Nancy M. Neuman, League president at that time, had to say about that
agreement at a press conference on October 3rd, 1988, "Between
themselves, the campaigns had determined what the television cameras could take
pictures of. They had determined how they would select those who would pose
questions to their candidates. They had determined that the press would be
relegated to the last two rows of the hall. They had determined that they would
pack the hall with their supporters. And they had determined the format. The
campaigns' agreement was a closed-door masterpiece."
Accordingly,
in a press release issued on that date, the League stated, "The League of Women
Voters is withdrawing sponsorship of the presidential debates...because the
demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the
American voter. It has become clear to us that the candidates' organizations
aim to add debates to their list of campaign-trail charades devoid of
substance, spontaneity and answers to tough questions. The League has no
intention of becoming an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public."
On July 25, 2012,
along with specifying the dates and places of four debates to take place in
October, "the Commission also released their 2012 Candidate Selection Criteria, which will
be used to determine who is invited to participate in the general election
debates. In addition to being constitutionally eligible, candidates must
appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to have a mathematical chance of
winning a majority vote in the Electoral College, and have a level of support
of at least 15% (fifteen percent) of the national electorate as determined by
five selected national public opinion polling organizations, using the average
of those organizations' most recent publicly-reported results at the time of
the determination. The Gallup Organization will advise the CPD in the
application of its Criteria to polling data as it did in 2000, 2004, and 2008." (http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=2012-2)
Incredibly, the
Commission bills itself as non-partisan rather than "bi-partisan." As a protective measure, the
corporate-dominated parties have the cooperation of the corporate-owned media
in seeing to it that third parties receive minimal to no attention in their
news outlets.
But the
Internet has brought us a new world. The use of social media, like Facebook,
Youtube, and Twitter as well as others, has become even more widespread since
its use in the 2008 election. Word can now be circulated about the Greens and
what they stand for. With enough of us giving the right answers to the
pollsters, the Green Party could meet the 15% threshold that the Commission
requires.
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