Err on the side of inclusion

The primary process in American elections is supposed to provide the public with its best opportunity to chart a political party's path and honestly assess the candidates seeking office.

It's also a process that some of Virginia's press organizations appear too willing to step all over.

A Dec. 7 debate, coordinated by the Virginia Capitol Correspondents Association, Virginia Associated Press Managing Editors and the AP, will take place six months before Democrats and Republicans hold primary elections.

It will feature candidates vying for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Jim Webb, but it's set to include just one candidate from each party: Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican George Allen.

Those two candidates, both former governors with statewide name recognition and lengthy political resumes, may indeed end up with their party's respective nomination. But that's a decision to be made in June by voters, not by state press organizations coordinating a debate months earlier.

(As The Pilot's Bill Bartel reported, this newspaper is a member of the AP and the correspondents group but wasn't consulted about the debate plans.)

The criteria for inclusion in the debate is far too restrictive. It unfairly tilts toward the wealthiest and most prominent candidates, who already enjoy an advantage spreading their message through advertising and powerful connections.

To land a spot next to Allen and Kaine in the debate, candidates vying for nomination must draw support from at least 15 percent of respondents in an independent primary poll and raise at least 20 percent of the funds raised by their party's wealthiest candidate by Oct. 31.

Through June, Allen had raised $2.6 million; Kaine, $2.3 million.

Under those conditions, Republican candidates Jamie Radtke, E.W. Jackson, Tim Donner and David McCormick would have to hold $520,000 in their respective campaign accounts to participate. Democrats Julien Modica and Courtney Lynch would have to show $460,000.

Mainstream news media have a responsibility to provide voters with information critical to making an informed choice at the polls. That holds true even for primary elections, and even if doing so doesn't lend itself to the horse race-style political coverage so common today.

At this early stage, the public should have an opportunity to hear from all of the candidates who are vying for nomination and want to distinguish themselves from the competition.

Debate coordinators should extend an invitation.