OntheWilderSide

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOxyiqJvjk4]

This year’s presidential election presents a new opportunity and challenge to those who have been working to open up the general election presidential debates. Past efforts have failed as the Courts have upheld the unholy alliance between the Commission on Presidential debates and the major party candidates who sign a memorandum of understanding that they will not participate in any other presidential debates. The mechanism CPD has used is to set “pre-exisitng objective standards” for candidates “a fifteen (15%) percent showing in the polls“ that only the Democratic and Republican Party candidates can meet.

This year there does not appear to be a significant mainstream independent or third party candidate on the horizon. There is certainly no one who can come close to the 15% threshold or make a compelling case for his or her inclusion. At the same time, independents have played a decisive role in the primary elections.
They rescued McCain’s campaign in NH; they put Obama over the top in MO. On “super-Tuesday” Obama carried the independent vote in the Democratic Party primary in seven states and and Clinton carried independents in two. And most important, independents have set the agenda for the presidential contest: no more foreign policy disasters like the invasion of Iraq; no more placing partisan interest before the national interest.

The voice of independents must be heard in the presidential debates. After all, it is they who will determine the outcome. Both parties recognize the need to include independents in the electoral coalition. Senator Obama has explicitly recognized the need for a new governing coalition that includes independents if the country is to move forward in critical policy arenas that have been stalemated for years: immigration, social security, education, health care, a re-examination of America’s role in the world.

We are asking those who have pushed for more inclusive, more lively and more substantive presidential debates to join Rock the Debates in calling for the inclusion of a prominent independent in the general election debates, on stage, asking questions of the candidates and expressing the viewpoint of independent and third party members.. This new format is more in tune with what is happening in the country. It also builds on the “You Tube” questions that provided some of the most compelling moments in the primary debates. A debate without their voice is like having an empty seat on the stage.

The last thing America needs is a series of bi-partisan, top-down, negotiated general election “debates” that allows candidate and party comfort to over-determine structure and content.

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