Union Leader Schedules Aug. 6 GOP Presidential Forum

It was bound to come to a head at some point – the desire for the Republican National Committee to control its candidates’ messages and the right of the public and the press to hear – and ask – a potential leader of the free world answer serious questions, a plan originally conceived and forwarded by Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus, and now, being carried out by Fox News.

The network, according to published reports, has decided to limit the number of Republican candidates in its debate by a national poll threshold and has booked its first presidential debate outside of New Hampshire and Iowa.

But the state’s largest newspaper, which offers a coveted and influential editorial endorsement to Republicans running for office, has thrown a political Molotov cocktail at the plan by booking its own forum on the same night.

The New Hampshire Union Leader has scheduled its own forum on the same evening as the Fox News event, according to a report in the newspaper.

The event, scheduled for Aug. 6, will be televised on C-SPAN and radio stations.

Union Leader Publisher Joe McQuaid stated that he had been thinking about scheduling the forum for a long time but the move by Fox to limit the number of candidates participating just necessitated the need to put it together.

“What Fox is attempting to do, and is actually bragging about doing, is a real threat to the first-in-the-nation primary,” McQuaid said. “Fox boasts that it will ‘winnow’ the field of candidates before New Hampshire gets to do so. That isn’t just bad for New Hampshire, it’s bad for the presidential selection process by limiting the field to only the best-known few with the biggest bankrolls. Why the RNC and, especially, its New Hampshire representative, Steve Duprey, would defend this and be a party to it is baffling.”

With more than 20 potential Republican candidates running, it is understandable that a news organization might want to limit candidates (or have more than one debate, so that as many candidates as possible would have access to the cable station’s four million-plus viewers). At the same time, many of the candidates in the lower tier of the national polls include governors and Senators, meaning that the Fox News criteria wasn’t limiting fringe candidates but established candidates who would be competitive in polling if there were fewer candidates.

The Union Leader forum will have its on criteria but not based on national polling or popularity. The report stated that things like an established campaign office in New Hampshire and staff working in the state would be part of the criteria.

Read the full report on UnionLeader.com.

What do you think? Do you agree with the Union Leader or Fox News? Which event will you watch? Leave a note in the comment section below.