The truth is non-partisan

Conservative Fox News is trying to control the outcome of the presidential election and it's doing it by excluding the most conservative candidate of all - Texas Congressman Ron Paul - from the Republican debate in New Hampshire Sunday night.

"We look forward to presenting a substantive forum which will serve as the first program of its kind this election season," David Rhodes, vice president of Fox News, claimed in a statement. All Republican candidates were invited to the Fox debate except Congressman Paul and California representative Duncan Hunter.

Paul was excluded from the Fox News debate despite polling higher in New Hampshire than other candidates who are included in the Fox forum, and raising nearly $20 million dollars last quarter. Paul finished fifth in Iowa with ten percent (10%) of the vote, well ahead of Rudy Giuliani, who is invited. The latest Rasmussen Reports Survey has him tied for third place in New Hampshire with Iowa winner Mike Huckabee at eleven percent (11%). Giuliana is at nine percent (9%) in the state poll and Fred Thompson is at four percent (4%).

Because Fox is snubbing Paul, the New Hampshire Republican Party has dropped its sponsorship of the debate. The New Hampshire GOP views the state primary as an opportunity for lesser known candidates to get known nationally.

Ron Paul supporters claim it is because Paul is against the war in Iraq. Ron Paul's campaign sponsored its own question and answer session with independent voters Sunday evening. The town hall meeting was broadcast on television across New Hampshire and on the www.RonPaul2008.com website.

This move demonstrates once again the news media's disregard for the public need-to-know and their efforts to control events. In this case, Fox's move may have in fact backfired by giving Paul more publicity and a bigger forum inside New Hampshire.