Dennis Kucinich concluded his smart, pointed yet good-humored participation in the latest Democratic presidential debate by telling the crowd at Dartmouth College that they

could have a President who has consistently opposed the war in Iraq, defended civil liberties and fought for single-payer healthcare. "Or," he said, "you can have a President who is tall." Unfortunately, the next President is likely to be of a different stature than the Congressman from Cleveland. But it is far too early to elbow Kucinich off the debate platform. It is troubling that a former big-city mayor, veteran Congressman and one of the earliest and most consistent critics of a war opposed by the vast majority of Americans has already been excluded from some high-profile candidate forums. And it is unacceptable that political and media "deciders" are beginning to angle for more exclusive debates.

There is nothing evenhanded about our presidential selection process. The system generally regards as most "serious" those candidates who can raise the most money, while it excludes those who offer radical alternatives, even if they hold views that more accurately reflect those of the American people. Party leaders and media stars err on the side of style over substance. This leaves little space for candidates like Kucinich, who stake out positions that are more visionary than those of the ordained front-runners and who inject ideas into the debate that would otherwise be skipped over. It's not easy to explain the strategic value of disarmament, diplomacy and the need to address persistent poverty in a thirty-second answer to a question about national security. Even Kucinich sometimes stumbles as he tries to leap the hurdles moderators erect to narrow and control the discourse.

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