ABC and FOX Exclude Paul from Upcoming Republican Debates

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Very interesting. Even though he is a nut, I think he deserves his chance to speak, especially if he is going to be the leading Republican fundraiser this quarter. I can understand Hunter not being included, but I always like to hear what he has to say.

ABC and Fox News Channel are narrowing the field of presidential candidates invited to debates this weekend just before the New Hampshire primary, in Fox's case infuriating supporters of Republican Rep. Ron Paul.


Fox News says it has limited space in its studio, which leaves Rep. Ron Paul out of a weekend debate.

The roster of participants for ABC's back-to-back, prime-time Republican and Democratic debates Saturday in New Hampshire will be determined after results of Thursday's Iowa caucus become clear.

Fox, meanwhile, has invited five GOP candidates to a forum with Chris Wallace scheduled for its mobile studio in New Hampshire on Sunday. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee received invites, leaving Paul of Texas and Rep. Duncan Hunter of California on the sidelines.

The network said it had limited space in its studio -- a souped-up bus -- and that it invited candidates who had received double-digit support in recent polls.

In a nationwide poll conducted December 14-20 by The Associated Press and Yahoo, Thompson had the support of 11 percent of GOP voters and Paul was at 3 percent. Paul's support is at 6 percent in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted in early December.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/31/debate.limits.ap/index.html

[Eraserhead]

Exclude the guy who has raised the most money and has a decent shot at third or fourth place in Iowa and New Hampshire... that really makes sense.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Exclude the guy who has raised the most money and has a decent shot at third or fourth place in Iowa and New Hampshire... that really makes sense.

Quite correct.

[Speed of Sound]

Paul is being excluded from the debate before the only state he connects to ideologically? Hahaha.....morons.

[Keystone Phil]

I'm not a fan but you can't exclude him. I am glad that Hunter has been excluded but it should have been done awhile ago. He's been in plenty of debates and still hasn't broken out of 1%. Time to go, Duncan.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Paul is being excluded from the debate before the only state he connects to ideologically? Hahaha.....morons.

Not at all. It actually makes perfect sense to exclude him. Think.

[Mr. Morden]

If "studio space" is the issue, they might just have a slot open up, should Thompson fail to make the top 3 in Iowa, and subsequently drop out on Friday.

[Speed of Sound]

Paul is being excluded from the debate before the only state he connects to ideologically? Hahaha.....morons.

Not at all. It actually makes perfect sense to exclude him. Think.

Morons in the fact that I dont like them. I fully understand that they are trying to screw him over, I just dont like it. Politics as usual.

[Reluctant Republican]

I don't think ABC is sure to exclude him. I'm pretty sure Paul will get in since I expect him to get 4th or 3rd in Iowa. And to be honest if he can't at least get that maybe he really does not deserve to be in the debates at all.  I don't know how many people ABC is inviting, but if it is the top five like Fox and Paul beats Giuliani in Iowa and ABC still excludes Paul and invites Rudy[and they would never get rid of Giuliani], then I think people would really be up in arms and I'd expect ABC[though not FOX] to cave.

[Brandon H]

ABC has a looser criteria. A candidate only needs to meet one of the three. One is a certain national poll amount, one is a certain NH poll amount, and one is place a certain level in Iowa. So Paul will most likely be in it, but Hunter probably won't.

[Mr. Paleoconservative]

I am not a Ron Paul supporter for President (but his voice does need to be heard in Congress), but this is an utterly unfair thing to be done to him and Congressman Hunter.  The news media should not be allowed to exclude candidates from these debates is they can meet one of these criteria; get on the ballot of at least 5 states; register over 5% in a single State on average in public opinion polls; or have raised over a certain amount of money. 

Fox News Channel may be cable and not under the regulation of the FCC, but to see ABC follow this decision also makes one question how the media boxes in what choices voters have available.  The people own the airwaves which ABC broadcasts on, and ABC should be forced as a public service to allow into the debates all serious contenders (which could be determined by the three criteria previously mentioned). 

[Хahar 🤔]

HPs.