Should we let the media choose which candidates we should vote for?

Honestly, should we let the media decide which candidates we should be voting for in the 2008 Election? Recently, ABC and the Fox News Channel are narrowing the field of presidential candidates invited to debates this weekend just before the New Hampshire primary.

They have decided that after the Iowa caucus, they would know which candidates should be continued to be invited based on national polls and their placing in today's (Jan 3rd) vote.

For Fox News, they decided to invite five of the seven remaining Republican candidates to a forum with Chris Wallace scheduled for Sunday in the Granite State -- only two days before the nation's first presidential primary. Although Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Mitt Romney and even the barely breathing Fred Thompson were all invited, two current candidates, both current Members of Congress, were not -- Duncan Hunter and Ron Paul.

The news channel offered the obvious excuse that "space is limited" in the "souped-up bus" that is serving as a mobile studio. Their criteria was those candidates that have received double-digit support in recent polls. Of course, it seems Fox News was using the Dec 14-20 poll by the AP/Yahoo which gave Fred Thompson 11 percent of GOP voters, and Paul was at 3 percent. In the LA Times/Bloomberg polls, Fred Thompson was behind Ron Paul (4 to 6 percent). I guess Fox News was being selective in getting Fred Thompson into their debate because "they like him."

Whether they choose to abide by their "balanced" news motto, it is clear to most people that they do not like Ron Paul's positions on the war, on terrorism, on big government spending, and not interfering with other countries' affairs.

Jesse Benton, Paul's spokesman, said "There very well might be some bias. 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."

For ABC News, their criteria for this Saturday's night debate was that a Republican and Democratic candidate 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.

While it's understandable that after so many debates, the media can be justified in determining which candidates are now viable for the presidency. But how can the media ignore Ron Paul's fundraising success? In the past, the media used fundraising as a factor in determining a candidate's viability to seek out the presidential nomination. Now with Paul collecting more than $19.5 million in the last three months of 2007, with a year-end total of more than $25 million, the media has decided that fundraising is no longer a major factor, or perhaps they decided that in Ron Paul's case, it does not apply.

How can you ignore a person who raised over $19.5 million dollars in the fourth quarter? Clearly, Paul has outpaced his Republican rivals, and it seems he has placed second in overall Q4 fundraising behind Hillary Clinton, who raised at least $20 million.

But ABC/Fox News believe that after the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries, that lone presidential contender will be found. I don't think it got decided that early in recent years. Why all of a sudden, Iowa (about 250,000 voters will turn out) and New Hampshire (somewhere less than 700,000 registered voters will turn out) will decide the 2008 outcome? Why are they telling us that if Ron Paul does not win Iowa and New Hampshire, it's all but over?

It sounds like the media wants us to believe that Iowa and New Hampshire are the barometer for a presidential candidate for the whole country. It is not always true.

I rather see the media wait until Super Tuesday on February 5. I heard Ron Paul could win Montana and their 25 state delegates.

It ain't over yet!

CNN - TV cuts candidates from debates, angering Paul backers

Alternet.org - Should Big Media Choose Our Candidates?

VOA News - US Republican Presidential Candidate Ron Paul Draws Small, Loyal Following