One only needs to look at the alternative debate with Robert Kennedy, held alongside the CNN debate, to see why CNN was so eager to keep Kennedy off the stage with Donald Trump and Joe Biden: his presence would have swung the poll needles all over the place.

Biden, of course, sealed his political fate that night; little need be said. Trump was just Trump, glowering like a pro-wrestling heel, his answers wandering all over the place, his mouth shooting ideas like welder’s sparks. To be in a meeting with him must be a nightmare.

Kennedy, alone on his stage, was no treat to listen to either. First, there’s his rasping croak of a voice, and even once you get accustomed to it, there’s his tiresome resort to statistics of every type. Even in his answer to the question of abortion, he cited stats about how often a woman’s decision to abort was a matter of economic viability; change the economy, he said, and you allow women to have babies. And he could wander with his answers as well, though by no means like Trump’s ocean voyages.

Kennedy impressed when he was concise, however, and he needed to be because he had to keep up with the simultaneous transmission of the CNN debate. His stats, if tiresome, were indeed relevant. At those times, he made both presidents look like the haggard old men they are.

But it’s easy to see why CNN will have nothing to do with Kennedy. He makes a lot of specious claims, but others are accurate and often hit the ruling class where it counts. He opened the debate saying this about CNN:

“My uncle gave the first televised debate in 1960. Ever since then, the debate has been run by nonpartisan organizations…This is collusion with a corporation, a for-profit corporation. And both of those campaigns are going to be pumping in tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising. It’s all a big payoff. This is exactly the kind of merger of state and corporate power that I’m running in order to oppose.”

Later on, talking about the Covid-19 crisis, he elaborated on the family tree of CNN:

“[The two presidents] created a billionaire a day for 500 days, and one of the problems is that CNN was [the lockdown’s] biggest cheerleader…The companies that own CNN are BlackRock, StateStreet and Vanguard. Those are the same companies that own Pfizer. Pfizer is [CNN’s] biggest advertiser. So they were all in cahoots in telling us what we needed to do.” (For the record, CNN is owned directly by Warner Brothers Discovery, whose biggest shareholders are those three companies.)

That’s not the kind of detail that CNN likes to hear on its programs. As Julian Assange found out, telling the truth about powerful institutions doesn’t get you invited to many parties.

But it does get you votes, and from both the right and left sides of aisles. Kennedy on a national platform like a debate would pull votes from both Trump and Biden; that there is much debate about which candidate he would hurt more just shows you how strong his prospects really are. A second debate, him standing between the two geriatrics, might well clinch it for him.

Which, I think, brings up an interesting prospect: the smoke-filled room. For Israelis, Kennedy’s staunch backing qualifies him for the White House. (To me, it is an abhorrent position, and I wonder how deep, or how pragmatic, it is, for he needn’t trouble hundreds of people to collect “sigs” for his ballot petitions if he doesn’t have Israel’s blessing on his run.) That matter being out of the way, mightn’t some discreet power-brokers sit down with Kennedy and cut a deal? “Better treatment from the MSM and cash for your Super-PAC, this in exchange for, well, not exactly new policies, but just some shifting, a little moderation here and there. Whaddaya say? C’mon, Bobby, you can’t tell me your Uncle Jack didn’t shake a few dirty hands.”

If Biden continues in the race or the new Democratic nominee gains little traction with the public — and I don’t see any exciting prospects — the powers-that-be will be looking to cover their bets.

In refusing Kennedy for the debate, CNN argued that his polling numbers were a hair too low. Also, the total number of electoral votes in the states where he is officially on the ballot is below the magic number of 270. Kennedy replies that this is true, but at present he has the signatures in 23 states to be on the ballot; the trouble is that official certification has not yet taken place.

CNN’s reasoning is too convenient, especially because a Kennedy appearance in the debate would surely have given his numbers a boost. And there is a bit of electoral math that doesn’t seem to register among those who dismiss Kennedy’s chances: in a three-way race among three strong candidates, the standard for election is no longer 270 electoral votes, but around 240.

“What? How can this be, Phil?” you ask. “I’ve always thought your comments were very sharp, even sublime, but…270 votes aren’t necessary?”

They are not. The electoral system was set up for two candidates. A three-way race makes a mess of it. Let’s say that of the three strong candidates, Candidate A gets around 240 electoral votes — and, of course, wins the popular vote. Candidates B and C split the rest of the college at about 150 apiece. The election is then “thrown” (why thrown? — odd term) into the House of Representatives.

ORDER IT NOW

They do the math. Candidate A has dozens more electoral votes than the others, plus the popular vote. The House could not possibly vote in Candidates B or C. Imagine the outcry if they did. If Trump got the short end of that stick, the January 6 riot would be a tea party compared to what his people would do.

Kennedy daringly said, “I’m not the one who should be withdrawing from the race, and I’m not going to be withdrawing from the race. What I said is…I’ll take a Spoiler Pledge with President Biden that, we’ll both take a poll in October and whoever of us is less likely to beat Donald Trump, that person will withdraw, and I will take that pledge.”

That’s the kind of bravado people react to. So although Kennedy’s chances are poor right now, he should not be counted out. Autumn is going to be interesting.