Debate chief raises issue of McCain's eligibility – again!

Frank Fahrenkopf

The co-chairman of the private organization that organizes the debates between the major presidential candidates has raised the issue of Sen. John McCain's eligibility during the 2008 race – again.

But Frank Fahrenkopf of the Commission on President Debates, during an interview on the Fox News Channel, did not mention the numerous questions surrounding then-Sen. Barack Obama's qualifications for the same office

And today, a spokeswoman for the organization flatly refused to comment to WND on the dispute over Obama's eligibility.

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The focus of the interview was the debates that soon are to be announced for the 2012 presidential campaign, presumably between Obama on the Democratic ticket and a still-to-be-picked candidate on the GOP side.

Fahrenkopf explained the private organization's requirements for candidates to be included in the debates, stating that a candidate must be born in the United States.

However, the U.S. Constitution requires that a president be a "natural-born citizen," which many have interpreted to mean the offspring of two citizens of the nation.

Also, numerous questions remain about the purported "Certificate of Live Birth" that Obama released publicly in April to support his claim to have been born in Hawaii. One questions is that since a purported copy of that record was released, why does the original remain unavailable for examination behind the locked doors of the state Department of Health.

The video of the interview with Fahrenkopf:

Fahrenkopf explained to Fox News that his group formally started preparations for the 2012 debates this year with an invitation to universities and colleges to submit a hosting plan.

RELATED: Obama aide blasts Romney's son for eligibility comment

"Our technical teams have gone out and examined the campuses. Secret Service … goes out and examines the campuses," he said. "We're probably within the next month going to announce where the debates are going to be in 2012."

He said the "criteria" for inclusion in the debates already has been "set."

"First of all you have to meet the constitutional requirements. Most people don't realize you have to be 35 years of age, native born, born here in the United States," he said.

"Some of you may remember some controversy whether or not when John McCain was born in the Canal Zone on a U.S. base down there qualified. So there's a pretty clear enunciation of what's involved there," he said.

See a video about the issue:

In days gone by, the requirements were enforced in various ways. State officials in California once removed a presidential candidates from the ballot for not being 35 years of age. The Constitution also requires that a candidate be a "natural-born citizen" and have been "a resident within the United States" for 14 years.

The provision, from Article II, Section 1, states: "No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States."

The questions over Obama's eligibility have focused on two unresolved issues: Whether the definition of "natural-born citizen" requires U.S. citizen parents. In that case, Obama would be disqualified, as his father, a student from Kenya, never was a U.S. citizen.

Barack Obama and Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga

The other, more generous, definition would regard a person born in the U.S., regardless of parental citizenship, as a "natural-born citizen."  But there are many computer and imaging experts who have concluded that the document released by Obama's White House showing his purported birth in Hawaii is fraudulent.

One expert has gone so far as to re-create Obama's birth certificate image using his own computer and software.

Also, the list of unanswered questions about Obama is extensive, including why has not his original document been available for review since he purportedly released the copy. Also, there is a long list of documents for Obama's history that remain sealed.

Among those documents are his passport records, kindergarten records, Punahou school records, Occidental College records, Columbia University records, Columbia thesis, Harvard Law School records, Harvard Law Review articles, University of Chicago articles, Illinois State Bar Association records, Illinois State Senate records and schedules, medical records, an Obama/Dunham marriage license, Obama/Dunham divorce documents, a Soetoro/Dunham marriage license and adoption records.

Fahrenkopf told Fox the debate organization also requires candidates to be on enough state ballots that it is possible for them to win the 270 electoral college votes required for victory.

He said there's also a requirement that candidates be polling at least 15 percent support.

It was in the runup to the 2008 election that Congress questioned the "natural born" qualifications of Obama's opponent, Republican Sen. John McCain.

The scion of distinguished U.S. naval officers, McCain was born to two American parents in the Panama Canal Zone. On April 30, 2008, the U.S. Senate sought to resolve the issue by passing a nonbinding resolution, which states, "Whereas John Sidney McCain, III, was born to American citizens on an American military base in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936: Now, therefore, be it resolved, that John Sidney McCain, III, is a 'natural born citizen' under Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution of the United States."

The resolution, supported by Obama, clearly determined "natural born" to mean born of two parents who are U.S. citizens.