On October 22nd at at 1:15 pm, I will invit Rick Staggenborg of the Progressive Party, Marc Delphine, Libertarian and Bruce Cronk to a Third Rail Debate outside the Governor Hotel 614 SW 11th Avenue. I shall play Moderator, Liam will be our Time-Keeper. Each candidate will have three minutes to present his platform. There will follow a series of three to five questions. Each candidate will have two minutes to answer and then one minute to offer remarks as rebutal. Finally, the candidates will have three minutes to wrap. That's it. Simple.
Because in this turbulent political climate of rising tempers, the Fog of War, pressure fronts on the Left and the Right confounding the pundits feeding the Tea Party animal, why would anyone want to wade into these polluted waters? Apparently some do because the November Event Horizon is sucking ‘em in. But maybe…just maybe Third Party candidates are going to shift the gravitational field and pull the Democrats and Republicans away from the K street troughs. At the very least one vital role Third Party People can play is the wrench that unscrews lobbyists from the political process.
What got me started on this is the City Club of Portland’s decision to exclude candidates it does not deem “viable” from the October 22nd debate between US senator Ron Wyden and the Republican challenger, Jim Huffman. But what makes for political viability? And why should this be a reason to write off a campaign? Over the next three weeks we are going to ask US Senate candidates these questions. I have invited Ron Wyden, Jim Huffman, Rick Staggenborg, Marc Delphine and Bruce Cronk to Air Cascadia to weigh in on the role of third parties in the upcoming midterm elections and beyond.
- KBOO