The campaign of Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate, resorted to the courts to try to get admitted to the Saddleback Forum. So the Libertarians think that the federal courts should tell a private church and pastor whom they can invite to a political discussion. And I'm sure they'll be trying the same thing when it comes to the debates shown on network television. And they'll get the same answer. There is no federal right to gain public attention in the election season, especially for a marginal candidate receiving just a few percentage points in the polls.

It's a vicious cycle where low public attention leads to low public support which leads to less public attention and so forth. But that is what these minor party candidates know that they face when they decide to launch their campaigns instead of trying to work within the major parties to try to effect change from the inside. Instead, they end up spending about half their campaign whining about their lack of coverage. Well, that's the business they've chosen and they knew it going in. It's especially disingenuous to have a party that is devoted to smaller government resorting to the courts to try to force other entities to give them the attention they think they deserve.

This content was used with the permission of Betsy Newmark.