If McCain Doesn’t Debate, Debates Commission Cannot Just Feature Obama
source: http://www.ballot-access.org/2008/09/25/if-mccain-doesnt-debate-debates-commission-cannot-ju...
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- BuddyP
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As of Thursday evening, virtually no one knows if John McCain will participate in the first presidential debate set for Friday evening in Oxford, Mississippi. Frank Fahrenkopf, co-chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates, and a former Republican Party national chair, said in an interview with Salon, “The law requires that there must be two candidates for a debate. If we did anything else, we would be making an in-kind contribution to the Obama campaign.” Of course, what he really meant is that there must be at least two candidates in a debate. In 1980, when the League of Women Voters was hosting presidential debates, the League invited President Jimmy Carter, Republican nominee Ronald Reagan, and independent candidate John B. Anderson. Carter refused to participate, so the debate was conducted between Anderson and Reagan. Both did well and neither damaged himself. Later in the season there were two Reagan-Carter debates.
Daily Kos, on Thursday evening, invited comments on the subject of “Whom should Obama debate?” (if McCain doesn’t participate). One commenter at 7:09 p.m. Pacific time said, “Why not let Bob Barr, Ralph Nader, and Cynthia McKinney debate Obama? It couldn’t hurt to hear their positions, and Obama would benefit by reaching out toward left-leaning independents with the gesture.”
Another commenter, at 7:16 p.m., said, “It couldn’t hurt to hear their positions? Yes it could. I am in full agreement that we need to reach out to all voters — specially those who feel let down by Obama’s bouts of centrist triangulation. We won’t get them by including those three…if it is outreach we need, we already know how to do that. Giving these people a forum they would otherwise never have gained does us no good at all. The risks of Obama looking bad in such an encounter are also far too great.”
Still another commenter, at 7:12 p.m., said, “Ralph Nader. Except that would be a real debate and the network would never allow that.”
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- goldenways
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asherp
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As far as the law requiring there be two candidates, he might be right. He may not have meant "at least two."
Somebody ought to look into that. Maybe THAT'S the reason we're stuck in this duopoly!
- 3 years ago
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asherp
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asherp
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Allowing Nader to debate would be a huge strategic advantage for McCain.
McCain cannot win this race with a two way race.
He also stands to lose a lot of his own base to Nader, and if current polls are accurate, more than Obama would.
Making this a three way race would at least add an element of uncertainty.
More likely, the CPD will just not have a debate at all.
The CPD is a private corporation that gets it's money from other corporations like Anheiser Bush and Haliburtion.
They wouldn't want to let the people to be able to decide for themselves. They want to decide for you.
- 3 years ago
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asherp
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