Florida GOP excludes Alan Keyes from Orlando debate

Uses non-existent polling data as requirement

Des Moines, IA — In what he called "a major abuse of the electoral process," former Reagan administration diplomat and long-time national conservative activist Alan Keyes has been blocked by the Florida GOP from participating in Sunday's Fox News presidential debate in Orlando.

The Florida party used a 1% or better showing in polls from three of six polling firms as their criterion for inclusion in the event, even though none of the selected polling firms included Keyes, the latest entry in the presidential race, in any of their statewide surveys to date.

However, had Keyes been included in these polls, objective observers — including staff of some of the polling firms in question — agreed, based on past electoral performance in Florida, and on current polling that is taking place in other states, that he would have received a percentage meeting or exceeding the threshold.

In 2000, in the last contested GOP presidential primary, 32,354 — or nearly five percent — of Florida Republicans, and about one million voters nationwide, cast their vote for Keyes. He was included in the Values Voter Debate in Fort Lauderdale last month, after only three days in the race. In the post-debate straw poll, Keyes surpassed all the other candidates in the GOP field except Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul.

The Des Moines Register's Iowa Poll, the most-recognized media measure in the first-in-the-nation caucus state, was released during the time period in question, showing Keyes at 2% after only two weeks in the race, equaling or surpassing several long-time GOP candidates, all of whom received invitations to the Orlando debate.

When asked about his exclusion from Sunday's debate on the Adam McMannus radio program Wednesday, Ambassador Keyes said, "Rather than thinking about what they should be doing to make sure that voters are informed and able to get a clear idea of the choices available to them, [some party officials] are doing their best, I think, to make sure that articulation of the kind of conservatism that corresponds to what is on the heart and mind of most grassroots Republicans is not there."

In later comments, Keyes asked, "Why such an effort to assure that the so-called top-tier candidates don't have to face me? Do they fear me because they're not good enough for the job that needs to be done, or because they don't represent the conscience and heart of the Republican Party or of the American people?"

To register your opinion concerning Dr. Keyes' exclusion from this debate, call the Florida Republican Party and Chairman Jim Greer at (850) 222-7920, send a fax to (850) 681-2063, or email the party using the form at www.rpof.org

You can learn more about Alan Keyes at www.AlanKeyes.com

Florida GOP excludes Alan Keyes from Orlando debate

Labels: Alan Keyes, Florida, GOP, presidential debate, Republican