Kucinich Barred From Iowa Debate

Written by: Kevin Shaw on Dec 12, 2007 12:28 PM EST

From USA Today's OnPolitics blog:

By: Mark Memmott and Jill Lawrence

Six-term Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich is crying foul over tomorrow's Des Moines Register debate for Democratic presidential candidates. The campaign today issued a lengthy protest against his exclusion from the debate, the last before the Jan. 3 caucuses.

The newspaper's standards for participation include at least 1% in its statewide poll and an office and paid staff in Iowa. Republican Alan Keyes, who has not been in any debates this year and has done little if any campaigning, has made the cut for today's GOP debate,...

Kucinich's campaign said today he has been excluded because "his Iowa field director operates from a home office rather than a rented storefront." The campaign quoted newspaper editor Carolyn Washburn as saying, "It was our determination that a person working out of his home did not meet our criteria for a campaign office and full-time paid staff in Iowa."

Kucinich's campaign says Marcos Rubinstein, its field director and state coordinator, runs the campaign from his home office in Dubuque, "bolstered by a dozen-or-so other senior campaign staff who have traveled the state over the past several months."

The campaign also notes that Kucinich is the top-ranked candidate in online polls conducted by Democracy For America and Progressive Democrats of America and both groups plan to advertise for him.

You can message the Des Moines Register's editor here:

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/HELP/40507010

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