See also: CPD wall starting to crack?, my summary of several indicators that the CPD’s exclusion of non-duopoly candidates is becoming a bigger issue in the public mind, which was picked up by LP national facebook and shared close to a thousand different places on facebook so far.
Andy Craig commented on the prior IPR article, in part:
… This is definitely the most pressure that has been applied to the CPD this early on.
I think we also came closer in 2012 than some people realize. 4 out of 10 corporate sponsors withdrew, which ain’t nothing. It came too late to affect the outcome though, which is why it’s so important that the issue is getting attention now and not just a year from now. Corporations looking at sponsoring the 2016 debates should know they’re taking on a potential PR liability, and possibly even a legal one as well. That it’s not just a nonpartisan good-citizen thing.