The Citizens' Debate Commission (CDC) is a nonpartisan American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 organization, formed in 2004, that was established to sponsor future general election presidential debates.

The CDC consists of national civic leaders from a multitude of political orientations and has an advisory board composed of over fifty civic organizations that it claims broadly reflects the composition and concerns of the electorate.

The CDC states that it was formed because the Commission on Presidential Debates

Commission on Presidential Debates

The Commission on Presidential Debates began in 1987 by the Democratic and Republican parties to establish the way that presidential election debates are run between candidates for President of the United States...

 (CPD) fails to adequately serve voters' interests and charges that the CPD, which was created by the Republican and Democratic parties, secretly awards control of the presidential debates to the Republican and Democratic candidates, thereby limiting voter choice and restricting subject matters of political discourse.

The CDC claims to aim to host presidential debates that serve American voters, not political parties

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

, first. The CDC promises to set fair candidate selection criteria, feature innovative and engaging formats, and resist anti-democratic demands of participating candidates. The CDC also promises to operate with full transparency and reverse the decline in debate viewership (Under the tenure of the CPD, debate viewership has dropped by over 25 million viewers.)

Participant selection criteria

The Citizens' Debate Commission (CDC) employs criteria developed by the Appleseed Citizens' Task Force on Fair Debates, a project of the Appleseed Electoral Reform Project at American University's

American University

American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...

 Washington College of Law.

The Appleseed Task Force criteria includes all candidates on enough state ballots to win an electoral college majority who either 1) register at five percent in national polls or 2) register a majority in national polls asking eligible voters which candidates they would like to see included in the presidential debates.

The Appleseed criteria attempts to ensure that popular third party challengers are allowed to participate without drowning out the voices of the two leading contenders for the presidency. In 1984 and 1988, only the major party candidates fulfilled the Appleseed criteria; in 1996 and 1992, only H. Ross Perot and the major party candidates managed to meet the Appleseed threshold; and in 2000, only Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....

, Pat Buchanan

Pat Buchanan

Patrick Joseph "Pat" Buchanan is an American paleoconservative political commentator, author, syndicated columnist, politician and broadcaster. Buchanan was a senior adviser to American Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and was an original host on CNN's Crossfire. He sought...

 and the major party candidates satisfied the criteria.

The CDC says the two prongs of the Appleseed criteria that trigger inclusion, five percent and majority support, are sensible because they are rooted in democratic principles and federal law. The five percent threshold matches the public financing threshold for minor parties, which is the only legislative standard for measuring the viability of non-major parties. Elected officials codified five percent in the Federal Election Campaign Act

Federal Election Campaign Act

The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 is a United States federal law which increased disclosure of contributions for federal campaigns. It was amended in 1974 to place legal limits on the campaign contributions...

, and taxpayers finance candidates whose parties attract five percent of the popular vote.

Format

The Citizens' Debate Commission advocates the following format stipulations for future presidential debates:

1. Follow-up questions must be permitted in every debate.
2. At least one debate must include candidate-to-candidate questioning.
3. At least two debates must include rebuttals and surrebuttals.
4. Response times must not be overly restrictive.
5. Candidates may only exercise a limited number of vetoes concerning the selection of moderators and panelists.

The Citizens' Debate Commission also proposes the following four basic formats for future presidential debates:

1. Two single-moderator debates.
2. Authentic town-hall debate.
3. Youth debate.
4. Panel debate.

Members

The following seventeen civic leaders serve on the CDC:

• John B. Anderson, former U.S. Representative
  United States House of Representatives
  The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
  
  , independent
  Independent (politician)
  In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
  
   1980 presidential candidate
  United States presidential election, 1980
  The United States presidential election of 1980 featured a contest between incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter and his Republican opponent, Ronald Reagan, as well as Republican Congressman John B. Anderson, who ran as an independent...
  
  , chair of the Center for Voting and Democracy;
• Bay Buchanan, president of The American Cause, sister of former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan
  Pat Buchanan
  Patrick Joseph "Pat" Buchanan is an American paleoconservative political commentator, author, syndicated columnist, politician and broadcaster. Buchanan was a senior adviser to American Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and was an original host on CNN's Crossfire. He sought...
  
  
• Veronica de la Garza, executive director of the Youth Vote Coalition;
• Norman Dean, director of Friends of the Earth
  Friends of the Earth
  Friends of the Earth International is an international network of environmental organizations in 76 countries.FOEI is assisted by a small secretariat which provides support for the network and its agreed major campaigns...
  
  ;
• George Farah, director of Open Debates and author of No Debate;
• Tom Fitton
  Tom Fitton
  Thomas J. "Tom" Fitton is an American activist. He is currently known as the President of Judicial Watch, a self-described "conservative, non-partisan, educational foundation." He previously worked for America's Voice and National Empowerment Television, the International Policy Forum, the...
  
  , president of Judicial Watch
  Judicial Watch
  Judicial Watch is an organization that describes itself as "a conservative, non-partisan American educational foundation that promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law." According to its mission statement, Judicial Watch "advocates high standards of...
  
  ;
• Tom Gerety
  Tom Gerety
  Tom Gerety, a lawyer, philosopher, and self-proclaimed "60s radical", is the former president of both Trinity College and Amherst College . After leaving Amherst College, he became the executive director of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law...
  
  , director, Brennan Center for Justice
  Brennan Center for Justice
  The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School is a non-partisan public policy and law institute that focuses on issues involving democracy and justice...
  
   at NYU School of Law;
• Jehmu Greene
  Jehmu Greene
  Jehmu Greene is an American political commentator and social justice organizer. Greene was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Austin, Texas. Greene is the daughter of Liberian immigrants.- Career :...
  
  , director of Rock the Vote
  Rock the Vote
  Rock the Vote is a non-profit organization in the United States of America whose mission is to engage and build the political power of young people....
  
  ;
• Alan Keyes
  Alan Keyes
  Alan Lee Keyes is an American conservative political activist, author, former diplomat, and perennial candidate for public office. A doctoral graduate of Harvard University, Keyes began his diplomatic career in the U.S...
  
  , former U.S. Ambassador;
• Jeff Milchen
  Jeff Milchen
  Jeff Milchen is a non-profit entrepreneur, writer and speaker best known as an advocate for independent businesses, community economic vitality and representative democracy. He is a co-founder of the American Independent Business Alliance , where he is the organization's most frequent public speaker...
  
  , director of ReclaimDemocracy.org;
• Larry Noble, former general counsel
  General Counsel
  A general counsel is the chief lawyer of a legal department, usually in a corporation or government department. The term is most used in the United States...
  
   for the Federal Election Commission
  Federal Election Commission
  The Federal Election Commission is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the United States Congress to regulate the campaign finance legislation in the United States. It was created in a provision of the 1975 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act...
  
  ;
• Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council
  Family Research Council
  The Family Research Council is a conservative or right-wing Christian group and lobbying organization formed in the United States in 1981 by James Dobson. It was fully incorporated in 1983...
  
  ;
• Chellie Pingree
  Chellie Pingree
  Rochelle M. "Chellie" Pingree is an American politician. She is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing since 2009. The district includes most of the southern part of the state, including Portland and Augusta.Pingree was a member of the Maine Senate from...
  
  , president and CEO of Common Cause
  Common Cause
  Common Cause is a self-described nonpartisan, nonprofit lobby and advocacy organization. It was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, a Republican former cabinet secretary under Lyndon Johnson, as a "citizens' lobby" with a mission focused on making U.S. political institutions more open and...
  
  ;
• Randall Robinson
  Randall Robinson
  Randall Robinson is an African-American lawyer, author and activist, noted as the founder of TransAfrica. He is known particularly for his impassioned opposition to South African apartheid, and for his advocacy on behalf of Haitian immigrants and Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.-Early...
  
  , founder of TransAfrica Forum
  TransAfrica Forum
  TransAfrica Forum is an advocacy organization in Washington, D.C. that seeks to influence the foreign policy of the United States concerning African countries and the African diaspora.-See also:* Diaspora politics in the United States...
  
  ;
• Dan Stein
  Dan A. Stein
  Dan Stein is the president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform , a non-partisan, non-profit 501 educational organization. FAIR advocates for reforms of U.S. immigration policies that would result in significant immigration reduction...
  
  , president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform
  Federation for American Immigration Reform
  The Federation for American Immigration Reform is a non-profit tax exempt educational organization in the United States that advocates changes in U.S. immigration policy that would result in significant reductions in immigration, both legal and illegal...
  
  ;
• Mark Weisbrot
  Mark Weisbrot
  Mark Weisbrot is an American economist, columnist and co-director, with Dean Baker, of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. As a commentator, he contributes to publications such as New York Times, the UK's The Guardian, and Brazil's largest newspaper, Folha de S...
  
  , co-director of Center for Economic and Policy Research
  Center for Economic and Policy Research
  The Center for Economic and Policy Research is a progressive economic policy think-tank based in Washington, DC, founded in 1999. CEPR works on Social Security, the US housing bubble, developing country economies , and gaps in the social policy fabric of the US economy.According to its own...
  
  ;
• Paul Weyrich
  Paul Weyrich
  Paul M. Weyrich was an American conservativepolitical activist and commentator, most notable as a figurehead of the New Right. He co-founded the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank and the Free Congress Foundation, another conservative think tank...
  
  , chair and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation
  Free Congress Foundation
  The Free Congress Foundation , is a conservative think tank founded by Paul Weyrich. It was based near Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C...
  
  

Advisory board

The following civic organizations serve on the Advisory Board of the Citizens' Debate Commission:

• 20/20 Vision
• Accuracy In Media
  Accuracy in Media
  Accuracy In Media is an American, non-profit news media watchdog founded in 1969 by economist Reed Irvine. AIM describes itself as "a non-profit, grassroots citizens watchdog of the news media that critiques botched and bungled news stories and sets the record straight on important issues that...
  
  
• Alliance for Better Campaigns
• The American Cause
• Appleseed Electoral Reform Project
• Ballot Access News
• Brennan Center for Justice at NYU
  New York University
  New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
  
   School of Law
• Center for Food Safety
• Center for Reclaiming America
• Center for Rural Strategies
• Center for Voting and Democracy
• Citizens for Participation in Political Action
• Citizen Works
• Common Cause
  Common Cause
  Common Cause is a self-described nonpartisan, nonprofit lobby and advocacy organization. It was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, a Republican former cabinet secretary under Lyndon Johnson, as a "citizens' lobby" with a mission focused on making U.S. political institutions more open and...
  
  
• Commonwealth Coalition
• Conservative Caucus
• Declaration Foundation
• Democracy Matters
  Democracy Matters
  Democracy Matters is a non-profit, non-partisan grassroots student political organization that is dedicated to deepening democracy. Democracy Matters advocates for public financing of election campaigns and other pro-democracy reforms in order to get big private and corporate money out of elections...
  
  
• Democracy South
• Democracy Unplugged
• Demos
• Earth Island Institute
  Earth Island Institute
  The Earth Island Institute was founded in 1982 by environmentalist David Brower. It organizes and encourages activism around environmental issues and provides public education. Funding comes from individual members and supporting organizations...
  
  
• Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
• Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting
• Fannie Lou Hamer Project
• Federation for American Immigration Reform
  Federation for American Immigration Reform
  The Federation for American Immigration Reform is a non-profit tax exempt educational organization in the United States that advocates changes in U.S. immigration policy that would result in significant reductions in immigration, both legal and illegal...
  
  
• Free Congress Foundation
• Free Press
• Friends of the Earth
  Friends of the Earth
  Friends of the Earth International is an international network of environmental organizations in 76 countries.FOEI is assisted by a small secretariat which provides support for the network and its agreed major campaigns...
  
  
• Fund for Constitutional Government
• Global Exchange
• GRACE Public Fund
• Grassroots Unity
• Greenpeace
  Greenpeace
  Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
  
  
• Independent Progressive Politics Network
• In fact
• Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
  Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
  The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy is a non-profit research and advocacy organization that promotes sustainable food, farm, and trade systems...
  
  
• Judicial Watch
  Judicial Watch
  Judicial Watch is an organization that describes itself as "a conservative, non-partisan American educational foundation that promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law." According to its mission statement, Judicial Watch "advocates high standards of...
  
  
• League of Rural Voters
• MassVOTE
• Midwest Democracy Center
• National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling
• National Coalition for the Homeless
• National Priorities Project
• National Voting Rights Institute
• The National Youth & Student Peace Coalition
• National Youth Advocacy Coalition
  National Youth Advocacy Coalition
  The National Youth Advocacy Coalition, or NYAC, which ceased to operate on May 12, 2011 was a organization which sought to fight discrimination against and promote the leadership and wellness for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth.NYAC was founded in 1993. At its...
  
  
• Native Forest Council
  Native Forest Council
  "Native Forest Council is an American environmental organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of all publicly owned natural resources from destructive practices, sales, and all resource extraction...
  
  
• New Road Map Foundation
• Ohio Citizen Action
• Public Campaign
  Public Campaign
  Public Campaign is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to sweeping reform that aims to dramatically reduce the role of big special interest money in American politics. Public Campaign works to bring Clean Elections, or publicly financed elections to local, state, and federal elections...
  
  
• Rainforest Action Network
• ReclaimDemocracy.org
• RenewAmerica
• Santa Monica Ranked Voting
• Student Environmental Action Coalition
• Texans for Public Justice
• Tikkun
  Tikkun (magazine)
  Tikkun is a quarterly English-language magazine, published in the United States, that analyzes American and Israeli culture, politics, religion and history from a leftist-progressive viewpoint, and provides commentary about Israeli politics and Jewish life in North America...
  
  
• U.S. English
• The Voting Rights Project of the Institute for Southern Studies
  Institute for Southern Studies
  The Institute for Southern Studies is a non-profit media and research center based in Durham, North Carolina that advocates for progressive political and social causes in the Southern United States...
  
  

External links

• Citizens' Debate Commission
• Commission on Presidential Debates
• Open Debates
• Some documentation of limited debate topics under CPD control, compiled by a CDC advocate.
• An index of newspapers editorializing on problems with the CPD in 2004.
• The Appleseed Citizens' Task Force on Fair Debates