Libertarian Robert Sarvis rises to 13% in polls, Virginia still excludes him from gubernatorial debate

Despite receiving around 13 percent support in recent polling across the state of Virginia, and state debate rules only requiring candidates cross the ten percent threshold to participate in the debates, Democratic Candidate Terry McAuliffe and Republican Candidate Ken Cuccinelli “agreed” with (or more likely pressured) sponsor CBS to exclude Libertarian Gubernatorial Candidate Robert Sarvis from taking part in the last televised debate before the election.

Robert Sarvis photo LP.org

This contest would have been the last chance for Virginia voters to see how Sarvis stacked up against the two very unpopular candidates offered by the two major political parties in the state, and clearly demonstrates the threats felt by the establishment political operatives due to Sarvis’ rise in the polls leading up to the gubernatorial election in early November.

WDBJ7, the CBS affiliate organizing the Oct. 24 debate on the campus of Virginia Tech, announced late Thursday that Robert Sarvis has fallen just short of the 10 percent threshold for a third candidate to get on stage.

“As of this date, the third party candidate is polling at 9.0% based on the averages on realclearpolitics.com and would, therefore, not meet the guidelines agreed upon by the campaigns,” emailed Kelly Zuber, the station’s news director.

Thursday was the deadline for deciding who would participate.

The latest poll mentioned and used by NBC lists Sarvis at 9% but the Real Clear Politics average indicates 9.8% !?!?

Politico writes: “With both major candidates viewed more unfavorably than favorably, the libertarian option has fared well among voters who don’t want to pick between “the lesser of two evils.” Sarvis received 12 percent in a three-way POLITICO poll conducted over the weekend of likely voters, while Democrat Terry McAuliffe was at 44 percent and Cuccinelli 35 percent.”