What Happened in 2008?

In 2008, four third-party and independent candidates were on enough state ballots to win an Electoral College majority: Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party; Bob Barr of the Libertarian Party; Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party; and independent candidate Ralph Nader.

Zogby conducted a poll of likely voters to determine which candidates the American peple wanted to see included in the 2008 presidential debates. Of the four third-party candidates on enough state ballots to win the election, only Libertarian Party nominee Bob Barr attracted support for his inclusion in the debates from a majority of likely voters. Fifty-five percent of likely voters believed that Barr “should participate” in the upcoming presidential debates with Democratic nominee Barack Obama and Republican nominee John McCain. 

Nonetheless, all third-party and independent candidates were excluded from the 2008 presidential debates.  Both McCain and Obama opposed the inclusion of other candidates, and the CPD employed the highly restrictive a15 percent criterion to publicly justify the exclusion of these third-party challengers.