Presidential Debate Sites Plan for Third Podium

Could there be a presidential wild card? The sites planning to host the 2016 presidential debates are now preparing for potential three-person forums. The Commission on Presidential Debates has advised the venues to prepare for the possibility that the Democratic and Republican nominees might be joined by a third candidate: either Libertarian Gary Johnson or Green Party nominee Jill Stein. “With [former Gov.] Gary Johnson polling in some places more than double digits, some of our production people may have said, ‘Just in case, you need to plan out what that might look like,’” Commission on Presidential Debates Co-Chairman Mike McCurry told a Politico reporter. “We won’t know the number of invitations we extend until mid-September.” In order to participate in the general-election debates, candidates must reach a level of national support of about 15 percent, using an average of at least five selected national public opinion polling organizations. Politico reports Stein is close to about 3.8 percent, and Johnson is near 8.8 percent. “If someone came in and let’s say he was [polling] at 14.5 percent and the margin of error in five polls was 3 points, we are going to have to sit down and look at it,” another co-chairman on the commission said. “But right now that person would not be included.”