For Immediate Release - Friday, January 04, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC - The Kucinich for President campaign late today filed an emergency complaint with the Federal Communications Commission claiming that the ABC television network "is violating its obligation to operate in the public interest" by excluding Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich from tomorrow night's scheduled debate in Manchester, NH.

Further, the complaint charges, the televised event "is not a true presidential primary debate without including all credible candidates, but instead is effectively an endorsement of the candidates selected by ABC." The filing also notes that ABC "is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Walt Disney, Co., whose executives have contributed heavily to other Democratic presidential primary candidates, including Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, former Senator John Edwards, and Governor Bill Richardson."

And, the filing points out, Kucinich "is the only Democratic presidential candidate who has qualified for Federal matching funds who is being excluded by ABC." (Full FCC complaint.)

"Although ABC would prefer to only report on easily described and well-known candidates, the proper enforcement of the Federal Communications Act ensures America's voters that they will have the ability to vote for candidates with varied and new ideas and policies," says the complaint. "ABC should not be the first primary."

The Kucinich urged that ABC reverse its decision rather than face possible FCC action.

Among the so-called "criteria" established by ABC for inclusion in Saturday night's debate is a fourth-place or better showing in Thursday's Iowa caucuses. Kucinich effectively by-passed the Iowa caucuses because the state Democratic Party and other political and institutional interests there excluded him from two earlier debates and from Party-sponsored functions. Instead, the Kucinich campaign has focused heavily on New Hampshire.

To underscore Kucinich's standing as both a "credible" and "qualified" candidate, the emergency complaint notes that he has campaign offices in Keene, Dover, Manchester, and Concord, paid staff, hundreds of campaign volunteers, and significant financial contributions from residents of New Hampshire. "In addition, Complainant Kucinich has been the winner in national online polls conducted by Democracy for America (receiving almost 50,000 votes while the closest competitor only received 38,000), Virginia State Democratic Party (receiving 30% of the Democratic vote while the closest competitor received 27%), Independent Voters (75% of the Democratic vote out of 80,000 online voters), as well as polls by Progressive Democrats of America and the Nation.  In an ABC News poll, Complainant Kucinich received the most support from 42,487 voters (garnering 35% of the vote to 22% for the next closest candidate) who were asked who won the Democratic presidential primary debate on August 19, 2007."

Also, Kucinich's "opponents share very similar policy platforms" while Kucinich offers very different positions on issues such as the war in Iraq and health care reform. His exclusion from the debate, therefore, "is contrary to 'the public interest to afford reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views of issues of public importance'."  ABC's "arbitrary and capricious decision "causes irreparable harm to the public interest by robbing the voters of the opportunity to hear his policy platform, including his pro-peace initiatives," says the complaint.

Contacts (for media only):

Washington, D.C.: Sharon Manitta, (202) 506-6683, Sharon.manitta@kucinich.us
National Campaign HQ: Andy Juniewicz, (216) 409-8992, ajuniewicz@aol.com
National Press Officer: Tom Staudter (914) 419-5221, staudter@verizon.net
 
 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Saturday, January 05, 2008

MANCHESTER, NH - As complaints keep pouring in to ABC News regarding the network's decision to exclude Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich from tonight's  Democratic Presidential debate, the most recent data from ABC and co-sponsor Facebook show Kucinich ahead of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who was invited to participate.

Kucinich, according to Facebook's own figures, ranks fourth in popularity among Facebook members. In the latest ABC News Poll, Kucinich ranked ahead of Richardson. And, Kucinich has won more than a dozen major on-line polls and post-debate surveys, including one conducted by ABC News.

Kucinich himself will be meeting with supporters at 6:30 p.m. today outside the Dana Center at St. Anselm College where tonight's debates will be staged.

"Based on arbitrary criteria, ABC is excluding the one Democratic Presidential candidate whose record and whose positions on the major issues of the day - the war in Iraq, health care reform, trade policies, environmental inititatives - clearly set him apart from the rest of the field," the Kucinich campaign said in a statement today. "Beyond that, ABC and Facebook are ignoring their own data, which show Kucinich ahead of Gov. Richardson. Those two sets of facts should call into question whether there are undisclosed reasons why the Congressman has been excluded."

ABC News | Facebook Election Pulse (Presidential Supporters)

	Facebook Supporters*	ABC News Poll**
Democrats:
Barack Obama	60.41%	27%
Hillary Clinton	18.48%	44%
John Edwards	9.46%	11%
Dennis Kucinich	6.67%	3%
Bill Richardson	2.56%	2%
Mike Gravel	2.42%	NA

    Based on number of supporters each candidate has on Facebook
    ** ABC News/Facebook National GOP and Democratic Primary polls respectively among leaned Republican primary voters and leaned Democratic primary voters (+/- 4.5% margin of error). Reported Dec. 19, 2007. More info here.

The Kucinich campaign filed an emergency complaint with the Federal Communications Commission yesterday claiming that the ABC television network "is violating its obligation to operate in the public interest" by excluding Kucinich. The complaint further charges that the event "is not a true presidential primary debate without including all credible candidates, but instead is effectively an endorsement of the candidates selected by ABC." The filing also notes that ABC "is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Walt Disney, Co., whose executives have contributed heavily to other Democratic presidential primary candidates, including Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, former Senator John Edwards, and Governor Bill Richardson."

"ABC still has time to reverse its decision, live up to its obligations under the Federal Communications Act, and provide the voters of New Hampshire and the entire nation with the diversity of political viewpoints that the public demands and deserves," the campaign said. "Otherwise, the troubling cloud over this event is more likely to grow than to dissipate."

Contacts (for media only):

Washington, D.C.: Sharon Manitta, (202) 506-6683, Sharon.manitta@kucinich.us
National Campaign HQ: Andy Juniewicz, (216) 409-8992, ajuniewicz@aol.com
National Press Officer: Tom Staudter (914) 419-5221, staudter@verizon.net