Clinton, Obama, Edwards should protest WMUR-TV’s decision by refusing to debate.

OK, so where are all our principled Democratic presidential candidates when we need them?

Today we learned that ABC News and its New Hampshire affiliate, WMUR-TV — once referred to here as WGOP — have on their own decided that some party-endorsed candidates will not be able to participate in the next New Hampshire primary debate.

I believe that this is a serious breach of the tradition in New Hampshire of giving all candidates a level playing field — and that means giving all party-sanctioned candidates the opportunity to participate in primary debates.

The nature of this decision is troubling at another level: who runs our political process? The voters and their political parties? Or the mass media, specifically television stations and networks?

I call upon all voters to protest this decision by calling the WMUR-TV newsroom at 1-800-257-5151. Perhaps this time it is not your candidate who is getting booted off the stage — but what about the next time?

More importantly, I am asking the front-runners in the New Hampshire Democratic primary – Hillary, Obama, Edwards – to show their support for fundamental fairness in the primary process by refusing to participate in the debate unless ABC News and WMUR-TV allow ALL CANDIDATES to debate.

New Hampshire’s Republicans already have taken a stand against FOX News which threatened to limit participation by GOP candidates.

Let’s see who the real American heroes are in this field of Democrats.

Hillary?