Joe Citizen's Facebook blog: Who gets invited to TV debates

WMUR-TV is gearing up to air its televised debates in cooperation with the Union Leader of Manchester.

And there are some winners and losers in this process -- those who get to participate in the debates, which guarantee some wide exposure, and those who weren't invited.

Check out Paul Briand's blog post on the issue.

One of the candidates who wasn't invited to participate is Wesley Sonner, a Republican candidate for Congress in the 2nd District.

He wrote an appeal to LFDA members to advocate on his behalf.

In reply to a question about the criteria for getting invited, WMUR cited the level of campaign activity, their standing in opinion polls and fundraising as a few of the measures of whether a candidacy is significant enough to warrant further examination on a TV debate.

The question we put to Facebook users was whether they agreed or disagreed that the "most newsworthy candidates" get invited to debate.

Here's are some of the responses:

Bruce MacMahon: "This debate is taking place six days before the primary. If you haven't built up a sizable base of support and developed substantial name recognition by this point in the process, sorry, but you gotta be realistic."

Shawn Watkins: " 'Most newsworthy candidates'? Sounds like discrimination to me. I would think the people have the right to hear all candidates."

Butch Morrison: "Who determines who is newsworthy...our liberal media?"

Richard Fogal: "Even though he isn't a viable candidate, and I wouldn't vote for him (or any of the Republicans running for that matter...I am voting for the Independent running for NH-02), he should be given the opportunity to debate the other candidates.... He should be allowed to express his views."

Karen Keyes: "I want to say that every candidate should be able to have their say, but some restrictions may be necessary. If all someone had to do was submit their filing to be considered a candidate and therefore get invited to debate, you could have a lot of wackos who just want their 15 minutes of fame."