Nader vs Obama vs McCain: open the debate

Nader’s campaign has posted a condensed version of what a 3-way debate would look like here.

I’d like to see the debates opened up to all six candidates on the ballot in a majority of states. That would be Ralph Nader (Independent), Cynthia McKinney (Green), Bob Barr (Libertarian) and Pastor Chuck Baldwin (Constitution), plus the other two.

People should be contacting the Commission on Presidential Debates, the media, and the campaigns of the two major parties to demand that the debates be opened up.

Nader’s history and regulatory expertise means that he is the most qualified candidate to speak on the current financial crisis. (I wrote a post on this previously). Given Nader’s precience of the current crisis, I think its especially important that he be included in the Presidential debates. He may also be the most qualified person to be President.

Nader’s campaign has said elsewhere, that if they can get in front of the public in the debates, they can make it a three way race. If people hear Nader’s stance on the financial crisis, and that has been hs principled stand forever, then it could be a three way race.

Helpful links:

Open Debates

Contact the Commission on Presidential Debates at 202-872-1020

Media contacts, from “How To Help The Nader-Gonzalez ’08 Campaign” by by Gilles d’Aymery & Jan Baughman on Swans.com.  Its very well put, and recommends a good course of action for supporters of Cynthia McKinney as well.  I’m excerpting their recommendation for speaking with the media below at length.

Without media exposure Nader and Gonzalez’s message and policies won’t be heard by the American people — potential voters who may well be attracted by that message and those policies. Thus, once more, their message will only reach their loyal followers — a tiny minority. It’s worth recalling here that when Matt Gonzalez ran for mayor in San Francisco he started with a base of 3 or 4 percent of the voters. Once he had access to the local media and was able to present the policies he intended to implement were he to be elected, he ended with about 47 percent of the votes in the run-off election. (He narrowly lost because the Republicans voted in masse for the Democratic millionaire candidate, Newsom). Media exposure, dignified exposure (aren’t you tired of the “spoiler” bogus narrative?), is a sine qua non endeavor.

You need to contact the news organizations (and your local media — print and TV) and demand (that word again) that they invite Ralph and Matt on their shows, and write about them and their platform in the national and local newspapers. Demand need not be rough and accusatory. It should be a polite request. According to Ralph Nader, written letters carry more weight than phone calls. Last on the list of positive return are e-mails. Letters should be mailed to the news organizations’ main address and addressed to the particular person you want to contact. Here are a list of contacts:

ABC

ABC News
77 WEST 66th Street
New York, NY 10023
212-456-7777

ABC News Network Programming Feedback
http://abcnews.go.com/Site/page?id=3271346

Links to feedback forms for specific shows are at
http://abcnews.go.com/Site/page?id=3068843

Submit comments to (among others):

World News with Charles Gibson

This Week with George Stephanopolous

Primetime

Nightline

CBS

CBS News
555 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019
(212) 975-4114

Go to www.cbsnews.com
Click on “contact us” at the bottom of the page
Submit comments at links to (among others):

CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News w/Katie Couric
Face the Nation
CBS News Sunday Morning

NBC

NBC News
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, N.Y. 10112
212-664-4444

The Chris Matthews Show
202-885-4600
Submit comments to:
http://www.thechrismatthewsshow.com/html/contact.html

Meet the Press
Submit comments to:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6872152/

Send an E-mail to the following programs:

Today: Today@NBCUNI.com

Nightly News with Brian Williams: Nightly@NBC.com

Dateline NBC: Dateline@NBCUNI.com

CNN

CNN
1 CNN Center
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: 404-827-1700

Submit comments to:

CNN Election Center
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form4.html?125

CNN Newsroom
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?92

General Feedback
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form.sound.off.html

FOX

Fox News
1211 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
212-301-3000

Send an E-mail to the following programs:

America’s Election HQ: americasnewsroom@foxnews.com

Fox News Specials: Fncspecials@foxnews.com

Fox News Sunday: FNS@foxnews.com

Special Report w/ Brit Hume: Special@foxnews.com

PBS

Public Broadcasting Service
2100 Crystal Dr.
Arlington, VA 22202-3785
703-739-5000

Submit comments to:

NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/letters.html

E-mail: onlineda@newshour.org

Other media personalities to contact to ask that they cover the Ralph Nader-Matt Gonzalez ’08 Campaign:

Charlie Rose
Charlie Rose, Inc.
731 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10022
212-617-1600
E-mail: charlierose@pbs.org

Diane Rehm
The Diane Rehm Show
WAMU 88.5 FM University Radio
4000 Brandywine Street, NW
Washington, DC 20016-8082
202-885-1231
E-mail: drshow@wamu.org