Alternative Presidential Debate Set for Candidates Who are on Ballot in at Least Ten States

Free & Equal, and Open the Debates, are hosting a presidential debate in Denver on Thursday, October 8. The debate will be live-streamed. The candidates will be in the same room with each other. In order to qualify, candidates must be on the ballot in at least ten states.

Rocky De La Fuente, Howie Hawkins, Gloria La Riva, and Brock Pierce have already confirmed. President Trump and Joe Biden are invited, but they are forbidden by their contracts with the Commission on Presidential Debates to participate in any debates other than the Commission debates. Don Blankenship, Jo Jorgensen, and Kanye West have not said yet whether they will attend.


Comments

Alternative Presidential Debate Set for Candidates Who are on Ballot in at Least Ten States — 19 Comments

  1. Vg,
    So do I!
    As the Titanic (November 2020 election) sinks, plenty of room astern.
    And the band plays on.
    Let the debates commence!
    You have to pay for rides like this at Great Adventure.

  2. If Biden or Trump violate the contract, what would happen? Lawsuit? I’m sure that they have enough money to pay it off; considering that they are a part of the oligarchy.

  3. Good point, Cody. I think candidates have until Sept. 25th to accept the invitation, but it is rather curious that the three right-leaning minor candidates — Jorgensen, Blankenship and rapper Kanye West — those who could potentially siphon a few votes from Trump’s ill-informed, alt-right constituency — haven’t accepted yet.

    It’ll be particularly interesting to see if the little-known Jorgensen, who was willing to appear on an obscure anti-government Boogaloo podcast earlier in the campaign, is willing to mix it up with her third-party rivals.

  4. MLB, Jorgensen is a centrist candidate just like Rocky de la Fuente is. Kanye will definitely not debate. Blakenship may jump on board, as you said he has until late September to sign up. The Libertarians may not want her to debate. Not many people will be viewing it and a lot of candidates could decide to go after her on the debate stage if she did just like many Democrats went after Bloomberg. The debates are not being held by a major network so why bother.

  5. Minor group TV ratings higher than B V T ???

    or BOTH near zero ???

    ANY body read party platforms any more ???
    —-

    ANY debate about —
    PR legis
    NONPARTISAN AppV execs / judics
    TOTSOP

  6. There is no point in Joregensen debating. She will bring 75% of the audience. That gives all of the other candidates a chance to poach her supporters while she has little opportunity to expand her base at their expense. Jorgensen is in the same position vs Brock Pierce and Gloria la Riva as Biden and Trump are vs Jorgensen. Appearing in a debate with them has only downsides.

  7. Interesting situation here. I am generally in favor of debating anyone, so this would be an argument in favor of Jorgensen participating.

    The flip side is that other than Howie Hawkins, nobody else is on the ballot in enough states to even theorectically win the election. Nobody else other than Hawkins is even on the ballot in half the states. This would be an argument in favor if only debating Hawkins.

    What would I do if I were in Jorgensen’s position? I like to debate, and I think that it is important to tbe process, so I would attend, and I would repeatedly point out that I was the only candidate besides Trump and Biden to get on the ballot in all 50 states, plus DC, and that other than Hawkins, and that other than Hawkins, everybody else was not even on half the state ballots, and I would also mock any candidates who did not show up, and label them as cowards, including Biden and Trump.

  8. The TV debate stuff has greatly added to the MONARCH ROT in the USA —

    esp since JFK v Nixon in 1960

    made super-worse by color TV.

    Thus the added ROT of *executive* orders for A-Z CONTROLS.

  9. I hope these Open the Debates guys have the stones to sue the CPD for their anti-competitive contracts preferably after either Trump or Biden says they would love to participate in this Open Debate but the CPD contract forbids it. The CPD is supposed to be a non-partisan nonprofit organization after all.

  10. Regardless, we should all do our part to share this debate as widely as possible on social media in an attempt to break through the bias and censorship of the major “news” media. Let folks know there is more to politics and civics in our country aside from the two awful ruling parties.

  11. Let Dario Hunter and Brian Carroll in the debate. Witb Official write in status they both have enough to be there and have a right tone at the table. #FairDebates

  12. Rock Howard, I hope Open the Debates and Free & Equal do not sue the CPD. The CPD has been sued many times by presidential candidates and political parties on various legal grounds and the federal courts have made it clear the CPD is a private organization who can invite or not invite any candidates they want. To sue is just a waste.

    Also, Jo should participate in the Free & Equal debate this Saturday. She gains nothing by her I will only debate Biden or Trump stance. What this stance means is she will never debate.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.