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Send a Petition to the Commission on Presidential Debates

The first presidential debate on Friday, September 26 was intended to focus on foreign policy issues. Yet it took 40 minutes before the first international question was asked. Prior to the conventions of the major parties, the Commission on Presidential Debates had proposed, and the candidates had agreed, that the first 90 minute debate would be devoted exclusively to foreign policy and that the third 90 minute debate would focus exclusively on the economy and domestic policy.

Because specific questions related to the economic recovery plan took up more than a third of the precious foreign policy debate time, issues like genocide, global poverty, AIDS and the vast array of problems that affect the majority of the global community were neglected.

The Commission on Presidential Debates, together with the two presidential candidates, should now act quickly to rectify this eleventh hour change in the agreed terms for the debate.

Write the Commission today and ask that they adjust the agenda for the third debate by allocating 40 minutes for a discussion on international policy concerns such as genocide, poverty, disease and climate change.

February 09, 2010

Subject:

Dear Commission on Presidential Debates,

According to your September 21 press release, the first 90 minute presidential debate should have been devoted “exclusively” to foreign policy. Yet it took 40 minutes before the first international question was asked.

During the remaining 50 minutes, only four, albeit important, foreign policy topics were covered -- Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Russia.

Human rights activists, and the hundreds of millions of people around the world who depend on their work, were left disappointed by the many unasked and unanswered questions on international policy concerns such as genocide, poverty, disease and climate change, all of which destabilize entire regions, thwart political, social and economic development, and threaten our national security. US presidential candidates, as future leaders of the free world, must address these most important foreign policy issues of our time.

The Commission on Presidential Debates, together with the two presidential candidates, should now act quickly to rectify this eleventh hour change in the agreed terms for the debate. Please adjust the agenda for the third debate just as you adjusted the agenda for the first debate. Please allocate the first 40 minutes of the October 15 debate to a discussion of these important international concerns.

The American public, and the billions worldwide affected by US foreign policy, deserve nothing less.

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