By Tim Morgan
Jan 6, 2008
Should Ron Paul be invited to the Fox News debate in New Hampshire? The US Congressman from Texas is know inside of Washington, DC as "Dr. No" and that's the answer that he has received from Fox News as he has tried to get into the last debate before the New Hampshire primary. It's a ridiculous move by Fox, but as bad as the debate on ABC News was on Saturday it likely won't make any difference.
The New Hampshire Republican Party was a co-sponsor to the debate but they have pulled out as they think the move by Fox is elitist and unfair. State party Chairman Fergus Cullen has decided that he wants no part of the debate unless all of the candidates are invited citing New Hampshire's "underdog" status. That sounds about right, but Fox has likely made a favorable move for the Paul campaign.
He is getting a lot of mileage claiming that he has been wronged by the network. He claims that Fox does not like the fact that he is anti-war. That's a fair charge, and it certainly is a poor move by Fox to exclude him. You really don't need polls, he finished fifth in Iowa with 9.99% of the vote. Paul's supporters predicted a big upset and perhaps even a third place finish in Iowa.
He didn't get it but he was only three percent behind John McCain and Fred Thompson, both who will be at the debate. He finished ahead of Rudy Giuliani in Iowa, and he invited as well. If you want to use polls the latest Rasmussen Reports Survey has him tied for third place in New Hampshire with Iowa winner Mike Huckabee at eleven percent (11%) making Fox look even more foolish. Fred Thompson is at four percent (4%) in the state in that poll, and Rudy is only at nine percent (9%).
Still, I think the snub helps Paul. These debates on the Republican side have been useless of late, and Paul can fire up his support by claiming the exclusion is unfair and even with all of his support and his campaign cash he is being blacklisted by Fox. And the good thing for Paul, he would be right.
All that said I still believe that Fox should do the right thing and in light of this last Rasmussen poll should reverse their decision and tell Dr. No, yes you are welcome at the Sunday night debate.
I found this piece at http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272618090.shtml
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