The only televised debate for U.S. Senate candidates in the crowded Democratic field for the Sept. 12 primary will exclude all but two of them, and Allan Lichtman is not happy about that.
On Aug. 31, the state League of Women Voters will host a debate between Rep. Ben Cardin and ex-Rep. Kweisi Mfume that will be broadcast on Maryland Public Television.
“The league was founded on opening up the political process,” Lichtman fumed. “Here is the league participating in closing the process.”
League President Lu Pierson said the criteria for selection were negotiated with MPT based on who were “viable candidates.” But the criterion that cut out all but the two front-runners was that the candidate needed the support of 15 percent of voters in a statewide poll.
In published polls, Lichtman and all the other candidates are in single digits, if they register at all.
Pierson said her board approved the criteria in October 2005. “At the time, there were rumors that there were going to be many candidates,” she said. “None of the television stations want to broadcast [a debate] with 10 or 15 candidates.”
She said the criteria were “similar with the debates that we?ve done in the past.” Pierson said that “there has not been that great a difference” between polling two months prior to the election.
“The league should not be in the business of making political predictions,” said Lichtman, a professor of political history at American University. “This practice would have excluded any early women” seeking to vote or run for office.
Lichtman protested the decision, and suggested the league have a debate for the five candidates who have met Federal Election Commission guidelines, raising at least $5,000.
