The national presidential debates are a major threshold for political competition. When an individual is sitting at the debate, the American public knows that they exist, that they really are a choice in this election. When only two men sit upon that stage, it reinforces the belief that only these two men can win. But if you sat Gary Johnson and Jill Stein on the same stage as Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, people would realize that they are people and candidates just as good as the major parties. As it is, by excluding third parties from media coverage and debates, they appear to the American public as nothing but political rats who can hope to do little more than squabble over 5% of the vote.
It'd be foolish to believe that third parties have an equal opportunity in the American political field. Can you honestly believe that a force of volunteers placing posters on street corners has the same level of attention as a multi-billion-dollar-funded political machine that appears every other day on a national news network? You remember watching the Republican and Democratic National Conventions on TV? Pretty cool, huh? Did you happen to see the Libertarian National Convention in Las Vegas, or the Green National Convention in Baltimore? How about the Constitution National Convention in Nashville? How many of the Republican primary candidates can you remember? Off the top of your head, you'd probably be able to throw out the names Ron Paul, Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum. What about the Green and Libertarian candidates? Can you name anyone besides Stein and Johnson?
Third parties are rarely, if ever, allowed on news shows, and it costs huge amounts of money to run commercials on national networks. Republicans and Democrats can afford to put their names all over the airwaves through billions of dollars in corporate campaign funds, but the Libertarians, Greens, and Constitution party refuse to accept corporate donations on the basis of ethics.
Obama campaign: $442 million raised
Romney campaign: $283 million
Johnson campaign: $2 million
Stein campaign: $400,000
Goode campaign: $200,000
With the ruling of Citizens United, it is effectively impossible for third parties to independently garner the same national attention as the Republicrats. Perot was able to make up for the disparity in funding between the Republicrats and the Reform Party by augmenting his campaign with his own personal wealth, but that was before that SCOTUS ruling. Now, not even a millionaire could overcome the odds and reach the 15% mark.
This past election cycle saw Johnson on the ballot in 48 states (+1 as a write-in), Stein in 37 (+7 as write-in), and Goode in 26 (+16 write-in). Adding Anderson, who had more write-in access than official access, there were a total of 6 candidates who could have, theoretically, reached the 270 electoral vote threshold. Inclusion on the presidential debates should be determined by whether or not that candidate has ballot access in enough states to win the election.
I also think the debates should be taken out of the hands of the Republicratic-controlled CPD and given to another organization - either the League of Women Voters or the Free & Equal Election Foundation.