Kucinich, Hunter, Gravel cut from ABC News presidential debates set for Saturday
Because actually letting the voters decide just wouldn't do 
Originally published by the International Herald Tribune
Kucinich, Hunter, Gravel cut from ABC News presidential debates set for Saturday
The Associated Press
Published: January 4, 2008
ABC News is eliminating Republican presidential candidate Duncan Hunter and Democrats Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel from its presidential debates Saturday night because they did not meet benchmarks for their support.
The Democratic debate three days before the New Hampshire primary will include Iowa caucus winner Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Bill Richardson.
The Iowa caucus Thursday was the first voting in the nominating process for the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Attention now turns to New Hampshire where a primary win can help secure momentum for candidates vying to run in the general election.
Before the Democrats take the stage for Saturday's debate in Manchester, New Hampshire, Republicans Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul will hold their own forum.
ABC anchor Charles Gibson will moderate both debates, which will be televised by the network during prime evening viewing hours.
The network set up benchmarks to narrow the field. Candidates had to meet at least one of three criteria: place first through fourth in Iowa, poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major New Hampshire surveys, or poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major national surveys.
ABC said the rules were quite inclusive, and that none of the candidates objected ahead of time. Its decision was made easier by Democrats Joe Biden and Chris Dodd dropping out of the race Thursday night.
"In previous debates where the stage was more crowded you had to make sure all of the candidates got equal time," said David Chalian, ABC News political director. "Here you will have more time to go in depth on the issues."
Subscribe to this blog's feed