Edwards on Third-Party Candidates and Debates
AMES, IOWA -- Memo to Prohibitionists, Socialists, Libertarians, and/or other fringe third party organizations: your presidential nominee is probably not welcome to any general election debates - at least not if John Edwards has his say in it.
Edwards told a large crowd of about 400 caucus goers at Iowa State University that unless a third party candidate is viable, he or she should not be invited to a national presidential debate. The subject came up in the Q and A session when one audience member asked Edwards to commit to allowing all third-party candidates an equal chance in the debates.
"This has nothing to do with excluding people," said Edwards. "If you had a legitimate chance of being the President of the United States, yes, you should be participating in the debates.
"But what you can't do is flood the stage with 15 or 20 people for an hour-and-a-half debate because nobody gets anything out of that."
This was a bit of a sore subject back in July, when Edwards was overheard at the end of a debate in Detroit telling Hillary Clinton that there should be fewer candidates participating in the Democratic debates.
While on the subject, Edwards also said there should be MORE debates during the general election, saying that three presidential debates in the fall isn't enough.