Politics & Government

Larry King Moderates Third-Party Presidential Debate Tuesday

Third-party presidential candidates Jill Stein (Green Party), Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party), Virgil Goode (Constitution Party), and Rocky Anderson (Justice Party) debate in Chicago Tuesday at 5:55 p.m. with Larry King moderating.

After three presidential debates and one vice-presidential debate between the Democratic incumbents and their Republican challengers, the third-party candidates are finally getting their national forum.

Tuesday at 5:55 p.m. (Pacific time), a televised debate among four third-party candidates will be moderated by longtime talk-show host Larry King.

Presidential nominees Jill Stein (Green Party), Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party), Virgil Goode (Constitution Party), and Rocky Anderson (Justice Party) will participate.

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Twitter users are encouraged to use the hashtag #AskEmThisLarry to propose debate questions for King to pose to the third-party candidates.

The last third-party candidate to face Democratic and Republican nominees in a televised debate was independent Ross Perot in 1992.

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The Commission on Presidential Debates, which sponsors debates between the major-party candidates (including this year's forums with Barack Obama and Mitt Romney), requires that a candidate be averaging at least 15 percent in national polls to be included.

Third-party candidates complain that's a hurdle that's almost impossible to clear before voters have a chance to hear their views.

"This commission exists for the principal purpose of protecting and strengthening the two parties," George Farah of Open Debates, a group that advocates changing the debate system, told NPR.

Stein was arrested outside this year's second presidential debate at Hofstra University after she attempted to enter the debate, calling it a "mockery of democracy," according to the Huffington Post. Johnson filed a lawsuit against the Commission in September, arguing that he'd been unfairly excluded from debating.

The debate at the Hilton Chicago is sponsored by the nonprofit Free & Equal Elections and will be telecast on the CSPAN channel, Al Jazeera and LINK TV and streamed at www.freeandequal.org/live and cspan.org, according to Free and Equal.

Are third-party candidates relevant in this year's presidential election? Would you vote for one? Tell us in the comments.


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