Tasini Says NY1 Censoring Debate In Senate Race

Jonathan Tasini is being left out in the cold for lack of hard cash.

That is the word today from the campaing of the anti-war Democrat running against Hillary Clinton.

Tasini claims he's being left out of the Aug. 22 debate scheduled by NY1 because his campaign hasn't raised enough money to suit the folks at the Time-Warner owned cable station.

According to a post on his Web site , Tasini was told by NY1 that a candidate must be polling at 5% or better and have raised $500,000 in order to be eligable for the debate. Tasini is well above the 5% threshold but well short of the "money-raised" requirement.

Got to agree with Tasini on this one. Politics already is dominated by those with the most cash. A televised debate, one would think, should be an opportunity for the candidates without cash to get out their message.

Tasini harvested nearly three times the number of signitures he needed to get on the ballot. He's raised about $150,000, so a fair number of people out there must think he has something to say. And, he's polling in the low teens.

Yet, with their arbitrary - and rather harsh - requirements the folks at NY1 are denying Tasini the one chance he has to get his message out statewide without spending money he doesn't have.

Disgusting!

By the way, Tasini appeared on the Mike Malloy Show on Air America last night. Since NY1 won't give him any exposure to spread his anti-war views we thought we might. To hear Tasini click here.