Debate Inclusions

Let’s use a hypothetical situation for this post.

There are four candidates running for Congress in 2014.  One candidate is a Democrat.  One is a Republican.  A third is a member of the Libertarian Party.  A fourth candidate represents the Green Party.  All four candidates have petitioned to be candidates and have received the required number of signatures needed to be candidates on a ballot.
The United States, politically, is considered to be a two-party country where one of two parties usually wins an election.  Those two who usually win are the Democratic and Republican parties.  During the fictional campaign, both the Democrat and Republican campaigns ask that they debate each other without the other two candidates.  Media organizations and other political groups oblige and only invite the Democratic and Republican candidates to their sponsored debates.  Some groups even go as far to say that the other two candidates, the Libertarian and Green, have no shot at winning, and since they little chance of being elected, they won’t be invited.
My question:  Should all candidates who are ballot qualified be invited to debates regardless of their chances of winning an election?

Third Party Presidential Debate

Obama vs. Romney — Part 3

The Second Presidential Debate

Vice-Presidential Debate Poll

President Obama at the First Presidential Debate

Watching the Debates

The Responsible Party Model

According to the responsible party model, political parties have distinct platforms which they should carry out when their members get elected.  To accept this model, you must believe that they are clear ideological and philosophical differences between the parties.  Those distinct parties would accept responsibility related to the government’s performance while they are in charge.  With the Presidential debates upon the American people, both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will attempt to draw distinctions between each other.  Once elected, they, as members of their respective parties, would then take responsibility for the performance of government.

Do you believe that parties adhere to the responsible party model?  Do you believe there are clear distinctions between the parties and the Presidential candidates?  Do you follow the mantra of Huey P. Long, the brash Louisiana politician who had a disdain for the two-party system? His comments can be found in the video below.  What are your thoughts?

Outside Looking In

I am pretty new to Twitter.  I am not a technophile by any stretch of the imagination, but I do enjoy the fact that I can get instant political information online through social media outlets like Twitter or Facebook.  I try to keep up with what the major two Presidential candidates, President Barack Obama (D) and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R) are doing on the campaign trail.  I also keep up with some third party candidates are saying while on the campaign trail.  Among those candidates are former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson (Libertarian), former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson (Justice), former Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode (Constitution) and Dr. Jill Stein (Green).  Recently, I noticed that many of their “tweets” consisted of their pleas for entry into next October’s Presidential debates.  Obama and Romney will be attendance.  At the time of this writing, however, those three previously named third party candidates will be left out.  Despite the fact that all three candidates will be on enough state ballots, as an official candidate or “write-in” candidate, to achieve an Electoral College majority, the Commission on Presidential Debates has a criterion that has excluded third party candidates from the debates since Ross Perot was invited in 1992.  In order to be invited to a Presidential debate, a candidate must have a composite average of 15% of popular support from nationally administered polls. Johnson, Anderson, Goode, and Stein fail to meet that requirement.   One problem with the requirement is that most national polling companies do not include those candidates as a choice in their polls.  Another problem is how subjective the 15% requirement is.  Why not 5% as a requirement?  How about 1%?  What about ballot access requirements as a criterion?  If you are not included in a poll as a choice, then how can a candidate receive any show of public support, let alone 15%? For now, Johnson, Anderson, Goode, and Stein will have to wait for that invitation to the debates.  In the meantime, the two-man show continues on while other opinions and debates are left out.

What are your thoughts on this subject?  Would you allow other candidates to the debates?  What criteria would you create as requirements for entry into the debates?

When this blog was created, I asked you which of these candidates do you believe should be added to the Presidential debates.  You can still vote in that poll on the blog.

By the way, for more insight into this topic and others covered on this blog, follow me on Twitter @schreckphd.

Third Party Candidate Debate Invitations

With the Presidential debates hosted by the Commission on Presidential Debates coming up, it looks like only two Presidential candidates will be invited to the event.  President Barack Obama, the Democrat, and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the Republican will be there.  What about the Justice Party candidate, former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson?  Former Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode of the Constitution Party?  Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party?  Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate?   Should any of them be invited?