COALITION SAYS DEBATE COMMISSION NEEDS REPAIR

Cox News Service

Houston Chronicle

October 17, 2008

WASHINGTON — The presidential debates are over, but the debate over the commission that runs them has only just begun.

Nine public interest groups, ranging from the right to the left, have joined forces under the name Open Debates in an attempt either to reform or scrap the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has controlled every aspect of presidential debates for the last two decades, down to the type of water glasses used by the candidates.

The commission is "more concerned with the partisan interests of the two major party candidates than the democratic interests of the voting public," George Farah, executive director of Open Debates, said in a statement.

The coalition includes Common Cause, Fair Vote, Judicial Watch, Democracy Matters, Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, Rock The Debates, Personal Democracy Forum, Reclaim Democracy and Essential Information.

The commission's guidelines include polling thresholds that third party candidates must meet in order to qualify — thresholds that third party candidates say are designed to keep the Republican and Democratic parties in control of presidential elections. Since the creation of the commission in 1987 only one third party candidate has been included in the debates: Ross Perot in 1992.

The commission, the Obama campaign and the McCain campaign did not respond to requests for comment Friday.