{"id":400,"date":"2008-01-01T15:37:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-01T20:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sugargroup.net\/varrin\/open-letter-to-all-presidential-candidates\/"},"modified":"2014-05-21T23:30:51","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T03:30:51","slug":"open-letter-to-all-presidential-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sugargroup.net\/varrin\/open-letter-to-all-presidential-candidates\/","title":{"rendered":"Open letter to all Presidential candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\">Dear Presidential Candidates,<\/font><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\"><\/p>\n<p>It has come to my attention that two upcoming candidate forums are intentionally excluding some candidates from the process.<\/font><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\"><\/p>\n<p>ABC and WMUR are holding both Democratic and Republican televised debates on January 5<sup>th<\/sup> in New Hampshire.  My understanding is that the following people have been excluded from that event:<\/font><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\"><br \/><\/font><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\"><br \/><\/font><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\">Democratic \tCandidate Dennis Kucinich<\/font><\/li>\n<li><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\">Democratic \tCandidate Joe Biden<\/font><\/li>\n<li><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\">Democratic \tCandidate Chris Dodd<\/font><\/li>\n<li><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\">Democratic Candidate Mike Gravel<\/font><\/li>\n<li><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\">Republican \tCandidate Duncan Hunter <\/font><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in\"><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\">Fox News is reportedly holding a Republican candidate forum on January 6<sup>th<\/sup> in New Hampshire.  My understanding is that the following people have been excluded from that event:<\/font><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\">Republican \tCandidate Ron Paul<\/font><\/li>\n<li><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\">Republican \tCandidate Duncan Hunter<\/font><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in\"><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\">These exclusions are unacceptable to me.  They should be unacceptable to you, too.  It is now incumbent upon you to take action to stop this injustice from happening.<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in\"><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\">I am asking you to pledge to withdrawal from the debates unless every candidate is included.  I realize, however, that the withdrawal of only some of the candidates would have two negative effects:<\/font><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in\"><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\">It \twould likely damage the campaigns of those who were invited but did \tnot participate more than it would benefit them.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in\"><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\">It \twould likely not result in the invitation of the excluded \tcandidates.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in\"><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\">With that in mind, I <font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\">am asking every candidate in both parties to make this pledge:<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 0.5in;margin-bottom: 0in\"><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\"><b>Unless every candidate is invited to the ABC \/ WMUR and\/or Fox forums I have been invited to participate in, I will withdrawal my participation if every other participating candidate will do so also.<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in\"><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\">There is no risk in making this pledge.  If fewer than all of the candidates make the pledge, those candidates have gone on record supporting the fairness of the process.  The events will likely go on as planned and the candidates who have made this pledge should point out that they are disappointed with both the networks perpetrating this problem and the lack of leadership on the part of the other candidates.<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in\"><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\"><br \/>If all of the candidates make the pledge, the outcome does not impact any of the currently-invited candidates disproportionately.  The most likely outcome is the invitation of all of the remaining candidates, which will make for more fair pre-primary debates and forums.<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in\"><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\"><br \/>If you are ready to demonstrate your leadership abilities and make this pledge, please send your confirmation in writing to me via email at varrin at sugargroup dot net.  Feel free to make a press release using the above statement as well.<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in\"><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\"><br \/>Thank you for your swift leadership on this issue.  I will report the names of the candidates who accept this pledge on this page for all to see.<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in\"><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\"><br \/><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in\"><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\">Sincerely,<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in\"><font face=\"DejaVu Serif, serif\">Varrin Swearingen<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0in\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Presidential Candidates, It has come to my attention that two upcoming candidate forums are intentionally excluding some candidates from the process. ABC and WMUR are holding both Democratic and Republican televised debates on January 5th in New Hampshire. My understanding is that the following people have been excluded from \u2026 <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/sugargroup.net\/varrin\/open-letter-to-all-presidential-candidates\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-freedom","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Open letter to all Presidential candidates - Varrin&#039;s World<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sugargroup.net\/varrin\/open-letter-to-all-presidential-candidates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Open letter to all Presidential candidates - Varrin&#039;s World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear Presidential Candidates, It has come to my attention that two upcoming candidate forums are intentionally excluding some candidates from the process. 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