What is keeping third-party and independent candidates from mounting credible campaigns for the presidency?
According to Level the Playing Field, a nonprofit that is attracting national media coverage, the problem is candidates’ access to televised debates. In a recent ad in The Wall Street Journal, the group blamed the requirement by the Commission on Presidential Debates that candidates have to reach 15 percent in the polls seven weeks before the election to participate: “To break the two-party stranglehold on who becomes president, all they have to do is change one rule, and put an end to the rigged game.”
In reality, changing the debate rules is unlikely to make a third-party or independent candidacy viable, let alone put it on a level playing field with the major party candidates.