Ralph Nader is not taking his exclusion from next Tuesday's presidential debate lying down.
After failing to convince the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) that he ought to be allowed to participate in the University of Massachusetts at Boston debate, the Green Party presidential nominee will create a major media event of his own by holding court a few miles away on Sunday, at the FleetCenter, surrounded by thousands of his allies.
Nader, a lawyer and consumer advocate who has repeatedly criticized the "corporate media" for failing to cover his anti-corporate campaign, hopes that the establishment press will take notice--if the event is successful.
"They can't ignore this," said Patrick J. Keaney, a Nader campaign spokesperson.
Keaney, who is coordinating the rally out of Nader's Somerville campaign office, predicted a sell-out of the arena's approximately 13,500 seats.
Tickets cost $10.
Nader will again call for the bipartisan CPD to allow him into the commission's three scheduled debates. The commission currently requires that candidates be winning at least 15 percent those surveyed in a number of national polls. Only Vice President Al Gore '69 and Texas Gov. George W. Bush meet those criteria. Nader has consistently polled in the single digits and is now at three percent, according to a Zogby poll released Monday.
This week, the commission formally rejected Nader's pleas for inclusion, saying that the candidate's presence would distract the national audience.
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