While recognizing that any candidate polling less than 15 percent has little to no chance of being elected, the bar is still set too high. It is, as Ralph Nader refered to it today, a catch-22 situation where a candidate needs visibility to gain support and needs support to gain visibility. Perhaps a compromise of ten percent in the polls would be more effective. I kind of cheer when I realize that Pat Buchanan will not be allowed to sprezd his reactionary hatred over the airwaves, but then I realize that no matter how much I hate that point of view, it deserves to be heard. There needs to be a cut off, but how do polls take on the power of law.
Popularity comes from exposure, and apparently popularity now determines exposuire.
The purpose of these debates is to help give the voting nation more of an idea on what the candidates believe, etc. It is a serious event.