Open Debates


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John B. Anderson: Between 1961 and 1981, John B. Anderson served ten terms as U.S. Representative to Congress from the 16th District of Illinois. He served on the House Rules Committee and for a decade was Chairman of the House Republican Conference. In 1980, Anderson ran for President as an independent candidate. He participated in a presidential debate with Republican nominee Ronald Reagan and received over six million votes. Anderson has served as the chair of the Center for Voting Rights and Democracy since 1996.

Angela "Bay" Buchanan: Angela "Bay" Buchanan is the President of The American Cause, an educational foundation dedicated to advancing traditional conservative issues. Bay served as the campaign chairman for all three presidential campaigns of her brother, Pat Buchanan. In 1996, George magazine recognized her as one of the top 20 political women in the nation. Bay is also a political analyst for CNBC, MSNBC, Good Morning America and CNN's Inside Politics.

Pat Choate: Pat Choate directs a Washington-based policy institute, the Manufacturing Policy Project. He was the vice-presidential candidate of the Reform Party in 1996, when the party captured 8.40 percent of the popular vote. He is the author of several books, including Agents of Influence: How Japan Manipulates America's Political and Economic System.

Jon Hanson: Jon Hanson is a Professor at Harvard Law School. He teaches and writes about the the sources and effects of commercial influence on our institutions. He is also a co-founder of Just Advocates, an information clearinghouse on private firms committed to the pursuit of justice.

George Farah: George Farah, founder of Open Debates, graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. He is the author of the new book No Debate: How the Republican and Democratic Parties Secretly Control the Presidential Debates by Seven Stories Press. He is also the Executive Director of Open Debates.

Larry Noble: Larry Noble is the Executive Director and General Counsel of the Center for Responsive Politics. Prior to that, he served as General Counsel of the Federal Election Commission from 1987 until 2000. Noble also served as the president of the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws from 1997 to 1998. He teaches Campaign Finance Law at George Washington University Law School.

Jamin B. Raskin: Jamin B. Raskin served as an Assistant Attorney General in Boston and is currently a professor of Constitutional Law at American University. Raskin has been a leading critic of the Commission on Presidential Debates, and he filed lawsuits on behalf of Ross Perot and Ralph Nader to prevent their exclusion from the presidential debates. His recent book, Overruling Democracy: The Supreme Court Versus the American People, elucidates the flaws of the presidential debate process.

Randall Robinson: Randall Robinson is a Harvard-trained lawyer and founder of TransAfrica, the foremost American think-tank on U.S. foreign policy matters dealing with Africa and the Caribbean. Robinson earned international respect for his efforts to help end apartheid in South Africa, and, more recently, his activities prompted U.S. humanitarian intervention in Somalia and helped shape U.S. policy toward Haitian refugees. Robinson is the author of several books, including The Debt: What America Owes Blacks.

Paul M. Weyrich: Paul M. Weyrich is Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation. From 1989 to 1996, Mr. Weyrich served as President of the Kreible Institute of the Free Congress Foundation, responsible for training democracy movements in the states comprising the Former Soviet Empire. He is a founder and past director of the American Legislative Exchange Council, the founding president of the Heritage Foundation, and the current National Chairman of Coalitions for America. Readers of Conservative Digest voted him as one of the top three "most popular conservatives in America not in Congress."

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