January 15, 2008
Will Dennis Menace MSNBC's Vegas Debate?
UPDATED.
With just about two hours to go before showtime, Nevada's Supreme Court has yet to announce whether Dennis Kucinich may participate in tonight's MSNBC debate.
On the merits alone, it looks like the network would have to if it wants to air the Democratic candidates forum at 9 p.m. EST as scheduled.
The Ohio rep sued parent network NBC earlier for excluding him from the Las Vegas debate. District Court Judge Charles Thompson ruled in Kucinich's favor and told the Peacock Network that he would order an injunction stopping the debate if Kucinich was not included.
NBC appealed Thompson's decision to Nevada's Supreme Court, which is expected to hand down a ruling by 9. Talk about cutting it close. Why NBC is fighting Kucinich so hard with the clock ticking down is something of a mystery.
After a summer and fall of eight-person-plus debates, the field has become much narrower. On the Democrats' side, there are really just three viable candidates remaining, and one has to place a pretty big asterisk next to John Edwards' name.
So on the one hand, it's in the networks' interest to whittle participants down to just those who actually seem to have a shot. That's why we didn't see Ron Paul at last week's FOX News GOP debate. Nor did we see Kucinich, Mike Gravel or Duncan Hunter at ABC News' back-to-back Dem/GOP debates.
Kucinich lost a legal challenge to ABC News because, a judge ruled, Kucinich had known since Dec. 17 that the ground rules laid out by ABC excluded him. But the issue with the Vegas debate is quite different. NBC changed the rules on Kucinich. Originally, Kucinich made the cut by virtue of his fourth-place finish in a national poll following the Iowa caucuses. According to Kucinich, an MSNBC executive rescinded his invitation on Friday, saying that the network was now only including the top three contenders.
Kucinich's attorney is arguing that NBC breached its contract. And since Kucinich can't be rewarded with money for that breach, "the only thing that cures the breach is to let him in," UNLV law professor Jeff Stempel told the Las Vegas Sun.
We'll update with the state Supreme Court decision when it's announced. And perfunctory shout-out: We're liveblogging tonight's debate starting at 8:45 EST -- Kucinich or no Kucinich.
Posted at 7:03 PM
Posted to:
Campaigns, Democrats, Dennis Kucinich, Duncan Hunter, John Edwards, Republicans, Ron Paul, WH 2008
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