Face it -- Dennis Kucinich is not a bona fide candidate for President. He has no significant support, has raised no significant money, and has no significant chance of winning his party's nomination. MSNBC was right to exclude him from its upcoming debate.

But a judge feels differently.

A Nevada judge said Monday that Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich must be included in Tuesday's candidates' debate in Nevada.

Senior Clark County District Court Judge Charles Thompson said if Kucinich is excluded, he'll issue an injunction stopping the televised debate.

The judge sided with a lawyer for the Ohio congressman, who says debate host MSNBC at first invited Kucinich to take part and then told him last week he couldn't.

A lawyer for the network said MSNBC decided to go with the top three candidates after the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries.

The judge called it a matter of fairness and said Nevada voters will benefit if they hear from more than just Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards.

The cable network and the Democratic Party are calling the 9 p.m. EST debate a chance to hear issues from Nevada's minority communities. Tim Russert and Brian Williams are moderating.

Personally, I believe that the network should cite the First Amendment and tell the judge to take his court order, roll it up real tight, and shove it up his @$$. However, a better course of action might be to give Kucinich a podium, and a microphone -- and then not turn the thing on and not ever point the candidate at him. After all, the judge certainly cannot dictate what questions and how many are asked of various candidates without running even further afoul of the First Amendment.

Ed at Captain's Quarters points out some jurisdictional issues, too.

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Posted by: Greg at 12:26 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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