Exclusion of Alan Keyes

We read:

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.

Source

This is pretty ham-fisted. Had Keyes been a hysterical Leftist, he would be playing the "race card" by now. That he has not done so shows what a gentleman he is.

Clearly, the stage is going to be cluttered for the debate and Keyes is nowhere in the polls so the thinking behind his exclusion is clear enough but what an opportunity the GOP is missing by failing to present a black face to the many African-American voters. Dumb and dumber!

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