1. Thanks for the update (and also thanks to Rick Hasen). I wonder why Hillary’s other opponents haven’t tried to claim their three minutes yet, too. It’s not like they couldn’t find some use for three minutes of airtime.

2. Good question. Bernie Sanders probably feels he doesn’t need it, and maybe Jim Webb, Lincoln Chafee, and Martin O’Malley assume that even if they got 3 minutes, the viewership would be low.

3. Richard, how would the equal time rule apply in a presidential election scenario with a third party candidate that has wide ballot access (ie, the libertarian party and green party). Would a libertarian candidate be able to get free time under the equal time rules in a general presidential election? Have they gotten such time before?

4. The Equal Time rule has never been repealed, but it has almost been forgotten because Congress amended it in the 1970’s to exclude bona fide news events. Courts started interpreting the rule to exclude news interviews with just a single candidate.

   But everyone seems to agree that Saturday Night Live is entertainment, not a bona fide news program, so the Equal Time now has some meaning again. The equal time rule applies to every candidate running for particular party nominations at this time. No presidential candidate running outside the two major parties can benefit until after the two major parties have nominees. But if the Democratic and Republican Party conventions were over with, and Saturday Night Live gave free time to a major party presidential nominee, then everyone else running for president in the general election could benefit, no matter how feeble their campaign. It’s not likely Saturday Night Live would include any presidential candidate running in the general election, ever.

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