Conversations on Exclusive Debates

The exclusion of Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel from the Des Moines Register debate last Thursday brought an uproar from the grassroots. The non-partisan Committee for a Unified Independent Party reported being cc'd on close to 100 emails that went to Howard Dean and the paper within several hours of notice to protest the anti-democratic move by the party interests. And The Hankster got this video from Representative Press with the comment "Kucinich is excluded from the Democratic Debate because his Iowa Field Director and State Coordinator, Marcos Rubinstein, works from home!?!"

Doug Ireland sent this letter to the editor:
SHAME ON THE DES MOINES REGISTER FOR EXCLUDING KUCINICH AND GRAVEL!
To the Editor, Des Moines Register:
As a journalist who has covered politics for three decades, I was appalled to discover that you had excluded both Congressman Dennis Kucinich and former Senator Mike Gravel from your presidential debate when I tuned into it today....... (read more)

Of Peace and Politics ran this: Mike Gravel: On Giving Power to the People
Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel were denied from participating in yesterday's Democratic debate. The Gravel Campaign released this video in protest.

The Independent View ran a protest.... and goofballs ran a Call to Action......

Other organizations, mostly Kucinich endorsers, ran protest campaigns: AfterDowningStreet.org, and We Are Watching You...

Dandelion Salad among several other blogs ran Jean Hay Bright's piece pointing out that "The concept that only landed gentry should be eligible to participate in the political process is an idea that we threw out, not in the last century, but in the century before that."

Gannett Blog (an independent blog about the Gannett Co.) tells us that "a Des Moines Register tipster says the paper has been hosed by protesters after its controversial decision to exclude Rep. Dennis Kucinich (below) from yesterday's Democratic presidential debate."The protest disrupted the newsroom for two days, jamming the phones,'' the tipster writes today. "After the Kucinich Iowa website announced he wasn't being included in the debate panel, Kucinich supporters posted protests on the comment areas tacked on to any news reports or blogs."