By Taylor Tyler

Every four years presidential debates are held in the United States, which are no doubt one of the most important and influential aspects of a presidential electoral campaign. Candidate debate performance heavily influences vote results.

Third party candidates have been included in two debate cycles since 1960. All remaining debates have included only two candidates, one Democrat and one Republican.

That fact seems odd when you think about how many other big party candidates such as Libertarian, Green, and Constitution Party members also run for the position of President of the United States. For the 2012 race, Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson is one of three people who will appear on all 50 state ballots, and has polled as high as 19% against Obama. This Wikipedia entry shows that there are at least 15 total candidates running in the upcoming election. Why are none of them invited to the debates? Don’t we, the people, have a right to choose who we want at our presidential debates and to be free of excessive bipartisan control?

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