Thread: Ron Paul Furious over Fox Debate Snub

Ron Paul Furious over Fox Debate Snub

NEW YORK -- ABC and Fox News Channel are narrowing the field of presidential candidates invited to debates this weekend just before the New Hampshire primary, in Fox's case infuriating supporters of Republican Rep. Ron Paul.

Fox News says it has limited space in its studio, which leaves Rep. Ron Paul out of a weekend debate.

The roster of participants for ABC's back-to-back, prime-time Republican and Democratic debates Saturday in New Hampshire will be determined after results of Thursday's Iowa caucus become clear.

Fox, meanwhile, has invited five GOP candidates to a forum with Chris Wallace scheduled for its mobile studio in New Hampshire on Sunday. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee received invites, leaving Paul of Texas and Rep. Duncan Hunter of California on the sidelines.

The network said it had limited space in its studio -- a souped-up bus -- and that it invited candidates who had received double-digit support in recent polls.

In a nationwide poll conducted December 14-20 by The Associated Press and Yahoo, Thompson had the support of 11 percent of GOP voters and Paul was at 3 percent. Paul's support is at 6 percent in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted in early December.

Paul was tied with Thompson for fifth in New Hampshire in the most recent Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, each with the support of 4 percent of likely voters. Among all New Hampshire voters, Paul led Thompson 6 percent to 4 percent, but that was within the poll's margin of error.

Jesse Benton, Paul's spokesman, said it was a "big mistake" not to include Paul, especially given Paul's recent success in fundraising. He said the campaign has been trying to reach Fox News to get an explanation for the decision, but its calls had not been returned.

"There very well might be some bias," Benton said. "Ron brings up some topics that aren't very popular with Fox News, as in fiscal responsibility and withdrawing from the war in Iraq ... that does leave us scratching our heads a little bit about whether it was deliberate. Based on metrics, I don't see how you can possibly exclude Dr. Paul."

Some livid Paul supporters are distributing e-mails calling for a boycott of Fox advertisers.

A Fox representative did not immediately return calls for comment about the complaints.

Paul has been invited to a GOP forum that Fox News is sponsoring in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on January 10, Benton said.

To participate in ABC's Saturday night debate, Republican and Democratic candidates must meet at least one of three benchmarks: place first through fourth in Iowa, poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major New Hampshire surveys, or poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major national surveys.

ABC News anchor Charles Gibson said the criteria were actually quite inclusive. He defended the network taking the initiative in effectively narrowing the field at a point when no actual voters had cast a ballot, except for Iowa caucus-goers.

"You will have had a year's politicking," he said. "You will have had, I think by count, about 641 debates. You will have had national polls and state polls and one state's vote. I think that's pretty indicative."

Gibson said ABC explained the rules for participation in a conference call with all the campaigns and "nobody said, "How dare you!' "

http://www.newsmax.com/politics/Ron_Pau ... ode=421E-1

Is this the first time in history this has happend ???

I would love to see Ron Paul buy air time with the 20 mil he raised this 4th quarter to run commercials on Fox News exposing them for the fraud they are. The same with CNN and MSNBC...

I about fell off my seat tonight when I learned the majority of owners of Fox News are not even American !!!!!

VOTE RON PAUL. NO ANCHOR BABIES, NO AMNESTY, NO WELFARE FOR ILLEGALS. RESTORE AMERICA.


http://www.usadaily.com/article.cfm?articleID=214251

Originally Posted by AirborneSapper7

Fox News says it has limited space in its studio, which leaves Rep. Ron Paul out of a weekend debate.

"Limited space in its studio"? Yeah, right. The studio will only hold two candidates? They don't have any bigger studios? Give me a break.

Comments are being left.
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Fox Snub Boosts Ron Paul
Michael Learmonth | January 2, 2008 11:39 AM

Fox News' decision to exclude Ron Paul from its Sunday Republican forum is turning out to be the best thing that's happened to the web's favorite Republican-slash-libertarian-slash-populist. There's nothing like a snub from FNC to motivate Paul's base, and he's making considerable hay challenging Fox's conservative credentials. Paul's point: Fox is more pro-Bush than conservative, a big difference.

Fox News left Paul and someone named Duncan Hunter out of its forum, because neither has cracked double-digit support in recent polls -- it also said its mobile studio in New Hampshire isn't big enough to accommodate them. Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson received invites.

But here's the problem: according to Paul's campaign, he raised nearly $20 million in the fourth quarter, vaulting him into the upper echelon of Republican candidates in terms of fundraising, and allowing Paul to buy TV ad time in Iowa in New Hampshire. Some 130,000 donors swelled Paul's coffers in $90 average increments in Q4, far below the $2,300 max.

http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/01/fox ... clude.html