Thanks for your email. As you may already know, no network has given Sen. Gravel more opportunity to get his message across than NBC and its affiliates via both interviews and debates. But with the election season beginning in just 72 days and more candidates trying to get into our debates, we believed it was necessary to have some minimum standards. Leaders and activists from both parties believe our requirements are very fair. Unfortunately, Sen. Gravel did not meet those minimum requirements. The standards we used included measuring the amount of time the senator spent campaigning as well as poll standing and financial resources.