Third Party Candidates Fight for Debate Inclusion

W A S H I N G T O N, July 18 -- Third party candidates Pat Buchanan and Ralph Nader are urging the commission organizing presidential debates to include them in three scheduled debates this October.

Buchanan’s camp said today that the Reform Party candidate plans on suing his way into the debates, and Green Party nominee Nader used an appearance before a National Press Club luncheon in Washington to plead his cause.

“It’s also a matter of keeping the American people awake in front of the television sets as they watch the drab debate the dreary,” Nader told a laughing audience today.

Several months ago, Buchanan petitioned the Federal Election Commission for inclusion into the debates. A 120-day period for the FEC to take action expires today without any response having come forth from the FEC.

An FEC spokeswoman said the commission does not comment on complaints until they are resolved. “We have nothing to say,” she told Reuters.

Buchanan spokesman Brian Doherty said they do not expect the FEC to respond and the campaign’s next move will be to file suit in a district court in Washington. He said they hope to take that action “within a few days.”

The Commission on Presidential Debates, a bipartisan private organization, has ruled that only candidates with at least 15 percent support in public opinion polls will be invited to participate in the commission’s three debates. Under those rules, currently only the two major party candidates — Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore — would be eligible. In most recent polls, Nader’s numbers are around 6 percent and Buchanan’s hover near 3 percent.

Reaching the Masses

Nader said including third party candidates would force Bush and Gore to address issues they might otherwise avoid. He said the campaigns have been ignoring issues like paying attention to rural America, looking at what the nation’s children are learning in their classrooms, and challenging global organizations like the World Trade Organization or NAFTA.