More Democrats should have said 'Kucinich' when polled which candidate they wanted for President. They chose candidates based on percentages in a number of different polls. Richardson made it in. Republicans included McCain, Huckabee, Paul, Romney, Giuliani & Thompson. Democrat top 3 in addition to Richardson were there. The highpoint was when all the candidates shook hands with all the other candidates at the end. Every candidate showed well. It wasn't a mud slinging contest kind of a debate. Everybody got at least one question, but the one's that got more votes did get asked more questions. Excluded candidates would have been stuck sitting through the thing without being asked more than one or two questions. They did miss out on the 'smooze fest' at the end & that's about it...