Four-Eight-Four [dot org]

According to the Union Leader, ABC News and WMUR are planning on excluding any candidate who doesn’t meet at least one of three criteria (”Debates: Who’s in, who’s out, who’s mad“):

1. Place in the top four in the Iowa caucuses, which will be held Thursday.
2. Poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four reputable random sample New Hampshire telephone surveys sponsored by an established news organization and conducted and released by 9 a.m. on Friday.
3. Poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four reputable random sample national telephone surveys sponsored by an established news organization and conducted and released on or before 9 a.m. Friday.

According to the article, this would leave out Dennis Kucinich, Duncan Hunter, Joe Biden, and Chris Dodd. The article goes on to say that Mike Gravel is polling at zero in the most recent polls, so presumably he’s out as well; Gravel and Kucinich are the only two Democratic candidates that I actually like. Notably, ABC’s rules will NOT rule out Ron Paul, since he meets the second criteria, and presumably will meet the third as well.

Not everybody in New Hampshire is happy about the exclusions. New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley has joined his Republican counterpart in condemning the exclusions as well (see “Further Clarification on the Ron Paul/FOX Forum Mess” for NH GOP Chairman Fergus Cullen’s press release on the matter):

New Hampshire has a long and proud tradition of serving as a level playing field,” he said. “New Hampshire is the one state where each candidate can be given an equal opportunity to be heard by the voters. I would strongly encourage any New Hampshire media outlet holding candidate debates or forums to not eliminate a sitting U.S. senator or member of Congress.

While FOX News has been completely silent thus far about their reasons for excluding candidates Duncan Hunter, Alan Keyes, and Ron Paul (perhaps they haven’t been able to retract their foot from their mouth yet?) at least ABC and WMUR are open about their reasons for exclusion.

That doesn’t excuse their failure, though. I find it absolutely reprehensible that they would have decided at this point, before a single official vote has been held, which candidates are viable or not. This is a continuation of the stupid tradition in this country of making this determination based on how the candidates fare in the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire primary.

Now, mind you, I realize that they are important barometers of how candidates are doing, but do you really think that voters in New Hampshire, who are well-known as being a bit independent-minded speak for even all of New England (much less all of the US)? How about comparing how New Hampshire or Iowa votes to, say New York, California, Florida, Texas, or North Carolina? This is all silliness.

Ron Paul Supporters: If you were upset about Paul being excluded from the FOX forum, I hope you’re upset about these exclusions as well. I’m going to fire off a few emails today to complain.

Side Note: The Union Leader has a version of their site available that is suitable for PDAs, smart phones, and the like. Hello, Times-Free Press? Maybe you should get on board! I know you guys have weather available, but come on … I can get that from AccuWeather.

+*Note*: Since I initially posted this, I’ve posted the following additional articles about the FOX News exclusion, as well as the ABC News/WMUR exclusions:

“New Hampshire Debate Exclusion Update & My Open Letter to WMUR and ABC News“
“Senator John Sununu (R-NH) Weighs in on FOX Forum/ABC Debate Exclusions“+