Dear Editor,
The race between Barack Obama and John McCain is a virtual tie.
This has been a wild, unpredictable election year. An election that will likely be decided by who wins the independent votes and swing states.
Well guess what?
McCain and Obama are not the only contenders. This year, America's presidential choices include lifelong consumer advocate, Ralph Nader, and two former members of Congress, one running as a Green, another as a Libertarian. These are not minor characters. These are viable candidates with growing support. They deserve to be heard and deserve to be in the debates.
This is an important factor of the 2008 election that the media is overlooking. While the Democrat and Republican camps bicker over pigs and lipstick and try to out-shout each other in reckless calls for offshore oil-drilling, independent candidates have been steadily rising in the polls.
Why aren't you covering this story?
There's strong evidence that third-party candidates from both sides of the spectrum will play a significant role this year. Said the San Francisco Examiner's Igor Derysh on Sept. 10: "While all of the Sarah Palin hype and the 24-hour-scandals will eventually be forgotten, the biggest factor in this election is one that has for the most part gone unmentioned. Independent candidates Bob Barr (Libertarian Party) and Ralph Nader appear to be commanding a big chunk of the vote in a recent CNN poll."
[ http://www.examiner.com/x-558-Politics-Examiner~y2008m9d10-Barr-Nader-Will-Have-a-Huge-Impact-on-Election ]
It's true. Ralph Nader is polling at 6 percent nationally according to new CNN polls, and as high as 6-8 percent in key battleground states of Colorado (7%), Michigan (6%), Pennsylvania (7%), New Mexico (8%), Nevada (6%)...
[ http://www.time.com/time/2008/poll_main.pdf ]
Yet the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), a corporation created by and for the Republican and Democratic parties, has complete control over the three presidential and one vice-presidential debates, and will not let Nader, or anyone else participate.
This week the Ralph Nader campaign announced that Nader/Gonzalez will be on the ballot in 45 states plus D.C. That includes populous California and New York. That's the most ballots Nader has ever been on--12 more than in 2004, [two] more than in the infamous election 2000.
Don't you think your readers would want to know all this? Don't they have a right to know?
Our nation is mired in two wars, sinking deeper into recession, financial institutions collapsing around us, foreclosures and soaring oil prices our bleak new economic landscape. Both main parties--the one in the White House and the one with a slim majority in Congress--played a part in the policies and decisions that got us into this mess.
Is it any wonder that a growing number of Americans are looking for another option?
On all the key issues, Ralph Nader's positions mirror those of the majority of Americans. Most of us want an immediate end to the Iraq war, true single-payer healthcare, and accountability for the ravages of the Bush/Cheney years. So does Nader. But not Obama or McCain.
Nader has a right to be heard. In the media and in the presidential debates. You have a duty to report on him and other third-party candidates. You short-change your readers by not covering them. You are also missing a potentially big story.
Our democracy depends on free speech and open debate. The fourth estate has an important responsibility to keep our electorate informed. Only then can voters make sound decisions and cast intelligent votes. The American public relies on you, to report on all relevant aspects of the story. Clearly the third-party candidates this year are very relevant.
I urge you to live up to your responsibility and tell the American people about their alternatives. Report on the third-party candidates. Give them a fair hearing. And urge the Commission on Presidential Debates to include other voices in the debates.
For the sake of American voters, for the sake of democracy, please do your job.** "I believe I still live in my country, the United States of America, and have the right to hear all candidates running for the office of president!"**
