MEMORANDUM
TO: Jim Walton, President, CNN WorldwideKen Jautz, Executive Vice President CNN
FROM: Fred Karger
Date: May 30, 2011
Re: Let Fred In the New Hampshire Debate
The June 13, 2011 New Hampshire Republican Debate that you are hosting along with the New Hampshire Union Leader and WMUR-TV is fast approaching, and I have yet to receive an invitation. My campaign has been in contact with CNN Senior Political Editor Mark Preston, Deputy Political Editor Paul Steinhauser and Producer Peter Hamby on several occasions. No one has given us a definitive answer regarding my participation, and we were told that you will not make the eligibility criteria public.
I am a serious candidate for President, and I would hope that you will include me in your debate on June 13, 2011.
I have 35 years of professional political experience, which I contend is longer than anyone else running or considering running for President in 2012. I was heavily involved in nine Republican Presidential races and dozens of other federal, state and local campaigns.
President Reagan Experience
A Series of Firsts
I was the first to announce that he was considering running for the Republican nomination for President at a press conference in New Orleans at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference on April 10, 2010.
I was the first potential candidate to establish a Presidential Exploratory Committee on July 18, 2010.
And I was the first serious candidate to file for President with the Federal Election Commission on March 23, 2011. U S News and scores of news organizations reported on my filing, and my first interview as a declared candidate was on CBS News that day.
First Openly Gay Candidate to Run for President
More Reasons to be Included in the CNN,
New Hampshire Union Leader, WMUR-TV Debate
1) Polling: I have reached an average of 1% in five polls: Zogby, Fox News, CNN, ABC/Washington Post, CNN Poll. (The ABC/Washington Post Poll allowed for respondents to volunteer results.) The New York Times has me statistically tied with Gary Johnson. I have been included in at least 15 online polls and have usually finished in the top tier, including one by the Republican National Committee.
2) Strong Student Support: I won New Hampshire's largest straw poll of the 2012 cycle, held by St. Anselm College and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, site of your Debate. I beat frontrunner Mitt Romney by 2%.
3) Media Coverage: CNN has reported: Fred Karger is "intriguing," The Union Leader's Publisher Joe McQuaid said that Fred Karger was "engaging," WMUR TV's Political Director James Pindell respects that Fred Karger is the only presidential candidate to “begin going to door to door, introducing himself to New Hampshire voters,” and Karger, “respects what the New Hampshire Primary is all about, so much so, he’s here more often than any other candidate. He believes New Hampshire matters.”
The Washington Post wrote its first 2012 GOP profile on me. Great Britain’s The Observer says that my campaign "is perhaps the furthest advanced of any potential Republican candidate." Just last week I was the first 2012 candidate to be interviewed on BBC's HardTalk in London. I recently returned from a trip to Israel which was widely reported. It was front page news in the Jerusalem Post and featured in U S Election News and the New York Jewish Week. I was interviewed live from Tel Aviv on Sky News.
Fox News, MSNBC, CBS News, WMUR, The Des Moines Register, Politico and the Huffington Post all regularly include cover my campaign and include me on their lists of 2012 candidates. Rachel Maddow reported on me and featured my newest commercial on her show last week.
Rachel Maddow Show – Fred Upper Right
4) Fundraising: Our campaign has raised more than $400,000 which is nearly 100 times the FEC's threshold to be seen as a serious candidate for federal office.
5) Campaign Organization: The Fred Karger for President Campaign employs an Iowa State Director, two New Hampshire coordinators and more than half a dozen consultants in Washington DC, Florida and California.
6) Television Commercials: I was the first to produce television ads that ran statewide in New Hampshire in September 2010 and May 2011 and Iowa in November 2010. Here are links to the three commercials: New Hampshire ads: Good Morning New Hampshire and Demon Frisbee and Iowa ad: Independence Day
A Full Time Candidate
I have been to New Hampshire 14 times, and have spent far more time in the Granite Stare than any other Presidential candidate. I have been to Iowa 7 times and have campaigned in over 20 states over the past 15 months.
An Independent Voice of Reason
I am an Independent Republican running for President. I am the only moderate Republican in the current field, and strongly hope that CNN will want someone who has a broad appeal to the 42% of registered independent voters in New Hampshire and that growing independent voter block across the nation. My positions on the important issues of today are often at odds with the other candidates and the RNC Platform. Ten Candidates Debated Four Years Ago
Four year ago on June 5, 2007 CNN’s Debate was inclusive and you had ten Republicans on the stage at St. Anselm College representing a broad range of views and philosophies. I hope that you will do the same in 2011. The American public expects nothing less from CNN.
The New Hampshire GOP Debaters in 2007 – Count ‘em 10
After reading this memorandum, I trust that you will include me in your upcoming Debate.
Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you on June 13, 1011 in Manchester.
cc: Joseph McQuaid, New Hampshire Union Leader
James Pindell, WMUR-TV
Neil Levesque, New Hampshire Institute of Politics
Mark Preston, CNN
Paul Steinhauser, CNN
Peter Hamby, CNN
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