FOX News is sponsoring a roundtable discussion featuring the major GOP candidates from New Hampshire at 8 PM. Unfortunately I will NOT be watching it tonight as they have decided to exclude Ron Paul from the discussion. The reasoning behind this is because nationally Dr Paul is polling at a little over three and a half percent while in New Hampshire he is polling around THIRD place from what I have read in a couple of different places.
The candidates that ARE participating include McCain, Romney, Thompson, Giuliani and Huckabee. I think that perhaps FOX News is afraid for you to get real clear and balanced news. Andrew Sullivan apparently thinks so as well.
One report I did run across over there and a couple of other web sites is that the New Hampshire GOP has withdrawn it's support from the debates. They released this statement yesterday (at least I ran across it at the Daily Dish yesterday as well as CNN):
The first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary serves a national purpose by giving all candidates an equal opportunity on a level playing field. Only in New Hampshire do lesser known, lesser funded underdogs have a fighting chance to establish themselves as national figures. Consistent with that tradition, we believe all recognized major candidates should have an equal opportunity to participate in pre-primary debates and forums.
This principle applies to tonight’s debates on ABC as well as Sunday’s planned forum on FOX. The New Hampshire Republican Party believes Congressmen Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter should be included in the FOX forum on Sunday evening. Our mutual efforts to resolve this difference have failed.
While we understand that FOX News continues to move forward it is with regret, the New Hampshire Republican Party hereby withdraws as a partner in this forum.
While I do consider myself a conservative I normally go to CNN for news (or Yahoo! and Google) rather than FOX because I hate their partisan, Sean Hannity view of the world. I tried watching it for a while and will still go there occasionally when doing research, but it's one more reason for me NOT to visit.
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