Dennis Kucinich Files FCC Complaint Against CNN and Time Warner

Dennis Kucinich filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission yesterday over CNN's decision saying they "arbitrarily" established criteria for its scheduled Monday Presidential debate that will exclude Kucinich from participation.

The Kucinich campaign was notified by CNN on Wednesday that their criteria included having 5 per cent or better in a national poll and Kucinich's showing was at 4 per cent in the CBS News/New York Times (Page #10 shows Kucinich's 4 per cent figure- PDF file) and by the Pew Research Center polls, disqualifying him from attending. The complaint states "The CNN criteria specifically exclude the diverse and anti-war voice of Mr. Kucinich and his grass-roots supporters. The exclusion of Mr. Kucinich undermines the purpose of the (Federal Communications) Act and is a blatant violation of the Act, including its equal time provisions." "Mr. Kucinich is a successful candidate because of his anti-war message and strong criticism of the American healthcare system, issues that are not championed by his presidential primary opponents. In these and other policy issues, his opponents share very similar policy platforms that differ from Mr. Kucinich." His campaign is asking the FCC to force CNN to allow Kucinich to participate. Previously Dennis Kucinich brought a court complaint against NBC which he lost, because they excluded him from their debate in Nevada, a Las Vegas judge had sided with him against NBC but the Nevada Supreme court upheld NBC's right to exclude him stating that the Las Vegas judge had exceeded his jurisdiction. You can see the Nevada Supreme Court's decision and reasoning here, via PDF file. That was last week. Kucinich lost another court battle in Texas, just yesterday, over the loyalty oath, that the Democratic party tried to force him to sign.