But the candidates would not pay to use the facility. Originally our rule was that you could not have a debate because debates would trigger the equal opportunity doctrine and you would have to put everybody in the debate. But that has gradually changed over time starting in 1960 with the Kennedy and Nixon debates, Congress had to pass a special law just for the Kennedy-Nixon debates. Because we do not have the 96 parties that you have, but we do in presidential elections have maybe 15 or 20 parties, most of which nobody has ever heard of. We have a system that is dominated by two parties, the Democratic party and the Republican party.
Most stations make an effort to give all the candidates some exposure.
More than the 30 seconds that is going to result under your regulations. But we would not have a presidential debate with the Vegetarian Party candidate getting equal time with the Republican and the Democrat. But Congress had to pass a special law to make that happen in 1960 for Kennedy and Nixon. Then in 1975 the F.C.C. said, you can treat a debate, you the broadcaster can treat a debate as an exemption, as an on the spot coverage of a news event, if the debate is sponsored by someone who is not a broadcaster, not a candidate and not a political party. We have many organizations of citizens in the United States, people who are not affiliated with the government, but who are interested in the environment, women s issues, or children or whatever.