Today's Republican presidential debate in Iowa will include perennial candidate Alan Keyes. This is the first time Alan Keyes has been invited to any debate.
The Des Moines Register, hosting the Iowa debate, says he met the criteria of having an Iowa campaign, defined as at least one staffer working out of an office.
Alan Keyes brings to the Iowa debate a remarkable resume - of failure. He's run twice for the Senate in Maryland, and lost both times. He's run for the Senate once in Illinois, and lost. And he's run twice before for the Republican presidential nomination, and never won a single primary.
The Register, on the other hand, is refusing to let Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio participate in Thursday's Democratic debate. The paper says he didn't meet the criteria because his Iowa staffer works out of his home instead of a rented office.
Kucinich, by the way, has been elected mayor of Cleveland, to the Ohio state Senate, and five times to the U.S. House of Representatives. - Source: By Tim Johnson of China Rises Blog.
Alan Keye's website has the following release:
On Wednesday, Fox News, CNN, and C-SPAN are slated to air a presidential debate sponsored by Iowa Public Television and the Des Moines Register. This is the last Republican debate before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses.
For the first time, all nine major candidates will share the stage. Joining Alan Keyes will be Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo, John McCain, Ron Paul, Fred Thompson, and Duncan Hunter.
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Comments
#1 Re: Alan Keyes & debates
This wasn't the first debate to which Keyes was invited; he was invited to the Tavis Smiley-moderated debate which the top tier Republican candidates skipped (shame on them, by the way).
The Des Moines Register's other requirements are an FEC declaration of candidacy, and 1% or more in the Des Moines Register poll. Pretty fair, I would say. And it does seem odd that Alan Keyes met all of that and Dennis Kucinich did not - on a technicality.
DG