INTERNET RESOURCES REFORM PARTY SITE www.reformparty.org BUCHANAN FOR PRESIDENT www.buchananreform.com DEBATE COMMISSION www.debates.org FEC www.fec.gov

"All we're asking is a chance to be heard in those debates, and make the case for a new American foreign policy, a new trade policy, a new immigration policy," Buchanan said after filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission.

"It is, if you will, a conspiracy by the two parties to keep third parties out of the presidential debates and therefore to maintain a hammerlock on the presidency of the United States," he added. "Without the debates, there really is no chance, I believe, that the Reform Party can win the presidency of the United States, and that is grossly unjust."

In the complaint, Buchanan and the Reform Party take issue with a ruling Jan. 6 by the Commission on Presidential Debates that only candidates with 15 percent standing in five national public opinion surveys may participate in the events. Buchanan, who has not yet won the Reform Party nomination, now stands in single digits.

The commission's executive director, Janet Brown, said the rules were "fair and clear."

"The CPD's mission is to sponsor debates that will present the leading candidates for president of the United States to the public in an informative manner," she said in a statement. "We are confident that our plan ... will allow us to achieve that objective."

The FEC has 90 days to respond to the complaint. If it does not allow Buchanan and the Reform Party to participate, the conservative commentator says he will take the case to federal court.

Buchanan and Reform Party Chairman Pat Choate said the 15 percent threshold is arbitrary as well as skewed by the fact that commission leaders are members of major parties.

"There's not a single member of the Reform Party on the commission itself," Buchanan said.

The sample sizes and the questions asked in the polls vary from news outlet to news outlet, none of which are "hotbeds of Buchananism," he said.

"We think that perhaps they are not objective institutions to be deciding whether or not I ought to be in a presidential debate," he added.

Additionally, Buchanan said, the rules would hurt voters by excluding his views on such issues as immigration and trade.

"My views, our views, Reform Party views, the views of millions, the majority in some cases, a significant minority in others, won't get heard in the presidential election if we're denied access to that debate, and fairness demands it," Buchanan said.