The Commission on Presidential Debates has apparently drawn up a plan to include a third podium in the upcoming three presidential debates, just in case Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson or the Green Party’s Jill Stein pull ahead in the polls by mid September.
Advertisement
The presidential debates are approaching and time is running out to rack up the amount of support needed for third-party candidates to debate with the Democrats and Republicans.
Johnson is the only candidate nearing the threshold.
In national polls, Johnson is not that far away from clearing 15 percent in national polls.
With Libertarian former Governor Gary Johnson polling in some places more than double digits, “We won’t know the number of invitations we extend until mid-September”, Politico quoted Commission on Presidential Debates co-chair Mike McCurry as saying.
A recent lawsuit by Johnson and Stein challenging the height of that bar was thrown out by a judge, but this news is a bit more encouraging for both surging parties. Any presidential candidate who gets on enough state ballots to reach 270 electoral votes should be allowed to debate.
The Commission was founded in 1987 with the primary goal “to sponsor and produce debates for the United States presidential and vice presidential candidates” and conduct research and educational activities surrounding the debates. Trump went so far as to say the National Football League wrote to him to express its disappointment at the schedule, a claim that was discredited by the NFL.
Only once since the Commission on Presidential Debates was formed has a third-party candidate actually participated in the debates – in 1992 when Ross Perot joined Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush. Green Party candidate Jill Stein is polling fourth and needs to gain a lot more ground to be included.
Advertisement
Producers working with the Committee on Presidential Debates sent the memo to the three colleges hosting presidential debates this fall – Washington University of St. Louis, the University of Nevada Las Vegas and Hofstra University.
