Students for Liberty, and Free & Equal, are sponsoring a gubernatorial debate and inviting all six candidates who are on the California ballot. It is expected that the nominees of the American Independent, Green, Libertarian, and Peace & Freedom Parties will attend. It would be a pleasant surprise if either the Democratic nominee or the Republican nominee also attend. The debate is at California State University at Sacramento. The date is October 28, but the exact hour, and the room, are not yet set.
Ballot Access News
Edited By Richard Winger
As much as I passionately wish that Nightmare Nightingale (my words ——– hey, is she even physically in the state any more?) would be logged as an independent independent, I applaude the wide spectrum of the debates.
With Brown (Yuck) and Whitman (Yuck) neck and neck (hey, he’s a pimp and she’s a prostitute) may be the Democans and the Republicrats will show.
Best wishes. I only wish I (and my little Peace N Freedom / reformist / kinda American Independent Party group) could vote for obstructionist Christine Tobin.
The six votes I personally know of (hand delivered to local officials) for Secretary of State are all over the Non Democan and Non Republicrat map!
Unless the Dem & Rep nominees are included, these six are wasting their time. They’d be speaking to the choir, as their core followers would be the ones dominating the audience. 3rd party nominees and their supporters have got to develop some “anatomy” and picket and protest any debates between the Dem & Rep when 3rd party nominees excluded. When are 3rd partisans going to learn the Dems & Reps are never going to play nice.
“I’m bad.” I was somehow thinking there were 6 third party candidates running – not including the “no party independents” (who I assume are listed also on the ballot). Yes, I understand there are only 4 third party candidates. The Article meant that both the Dem and Rep were invited, but I doubt we’ll see either accept the invite to join the stage with the 3rd party candidates. the might be asked some REAL questions and they can’t handle this.
The deliberate exclusion of candidates from debate forums is a shameful characteristic of the U.S. political process. Years ago the League of Women Voters was coerced by the two parties in power to exclude other candidates from the League’s supposedly neutral debates. Then the 2 parties set up their own private debate commission for presidential debates. Candidates are required by many debate forums to meet polling thresholds for inclusion, but the polls include only the candidates of the two parties in power! When the private televised debates monopolize the airwaves, the parties in power are free to ignore and marginalize free and open debates.
It is increasingly common for candidates to be arrested for attempting to view the debates from which they are excluded. To me this is very similar to the exclusion of voters via sham literacy tests and violent dissuasion. It is wrong that these constraints on the democratic process are allowed. In fact, it is hard to see why this should be called a democratic process.