Rock-the-Debates is today sending this letter to Senator John McCain’s national campaign headquarters:
May 10, 2008
John McCain 2008
1235 South Clark St.
Arlington, VA 22201
Dear Senator McCain:
Now that the field of presidential hopefuls has winnowed and as third party and independent presidential candidates are being selected, I am writing to ask if you would be willing to debate all candidates in 2008 that have a mathematical chance of winning the presidency. In all likelihood there will be four presidential candidates who will have a mathematical chance, in addition to the Democrat and you.
Rock-The-Debates has Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and a host of third party and independent candidates on video all expressing their support for open, inclusive debates.
Hillary Clinton told us, “I believe in free and open debate”, while Barack Obama said he wanted “as many people to get a hearing (in the debates) as possible”.
As you know, Senator McCain, we have Americans dying in the Middle East trying to promote democracy in that part of the world. It would be a travesty to not hold free, open and inclusive debates in our own country.
We would appreciate the favor of a response by May 20. Sincerely, Robert Sullentrup, Founder, Rock-The-Debates, http://www.rockthedebates.org.
Right on, Robert Sullentrup!
I think up six political parties should be included in any debt. That would inclue any independents that are on enough state ballots to WIN the Presidence.
Couldn’t any candidate win one state and finish 3rd, and then be chosen by the House of Representatives?
Say 268:267:3
I think that is a more likely scenario than a minor party candidate actually winning outright.
Remember the debate where just afterwards John Edwards and Hillary Clinton were recorded complaining that there were just too many candidates and that they were just wasting the real candidates time, and Clinton was telling Edwards to have his campaign staff contact hers. And that moment Dennis Kucinich walks up behind Clinton, and she turns around with a very enthusiastic, “Oh HI, Dennis!”.
They need to include Nazi Party Presidential candidate John Taylor Bowles in that debate.
On the video it sounded like Obama skirts the issue of an open debate (http://rockthedebates.org/candidate/barack_obama)
…same with Clinton. Rock on Sullentrup.
CPD needs to adjust its criteria. Hopefully there will be other debates like the CNN/YouTube debate, but regardless, the 15% poll requirement of the CPD needs to be challenged as much as possible.
I wouldn’t hold my breath for the debates to feature other than the two major-party nominees.
The reason Ross Perot got into the ’92 debates was that GHW Bush was “dead in the water” and hoped that the debates would rejuvenate his campaign. And Slick Willie wanted Perot in the debates because he thought Perot would drain votes from Bush.
In 1996, of course, Perot was kept out of the debates. Slick Willie said that he had wanted to let Perot in, but George Stephanopolous later revealed that that was another of the Slick One’s lies.
The way to get people to watch the debates would be to have the top 10 candidates debate ten weeks before the election, with the lowest candidate eliminated each week. Think about how much money could be made at 99 cents per call. Treat it like a weekly game show and people will watch. Otherwise, this debate about the debates is meaningless.
Since Simon Cowell is not a US citizen, he could be an impartial host. 🙂