Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Bob "barred" from the Debates?

On June 4th, Libertarian presidential candidate, Bob Barr, urged Obama and McCain to engage in a weekly debate over the important issues facing our nation.
As you can see, the Republican and Democrat candidates choose not to debate Barr.
The question now, is whether or not Barr will be a participant in the debates sponsored by the
Commission on Presidential Debates.
The CPD lists on their website three criteria for candidates to determine whether or not that candidate qualifies.
1.Evidence of Constitutional Eligibility:
There's not question that Barr does that.
2.Evidence of Ballot Access:
This is defined as, "The CPD's second criterion requires that the candidate qualify to have his/her name appear on enough state ballots to have at least a mathematical chance of securing an Electoral College majority in the 2008 general election."
At last count, Barr had ballot access in 31 States. In a theoretical sense,that would give him a "mathematical chance".
3.Indicators of Electoral Support:
This requires that the candidate have a level of support of at least 15% of the electorate.
So far, Barr is polling at 6% nationwide.
I'm not sure how he can reach the 15% requirement.
In June, 1992, third party candidate, Ross Perot led the national public opinion polls with support from 39% of the voters, so it is possible for a candidate to buck the system.
Barr, however, isn't getting the media attention Perot got on 1992. I'm not going to hold my breathe while waiting for magazine covers
featuring Barr's picture the way Time magazine featured Perot in '92.

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