Chicken dance

Annie Hall of the Enquirer's Columbus Bureau reports from the scene of Wednesday's debate:

CLEVELAND -- Few Ohioans are aware four men are running for governor on the Nov. 7 ballot. And apparently, the two third-party candidates are willing to go to jail over being left out of televised debates.
Independent Bill Peirce and Green Party candidate Bob Fitrakis, however, are not going to be snubbed quietly.
The decision to include only Democrat Ted Strickland and Republican Ken Blackwell was made by debate organizers.
Before Wednesday’s debate, the second of three scheduled, both Fitrakis and Peirce hovered around the well-gaurded doors to WEWS-TV.
They spent their time harassing about 150 Blackwell and Strickland demonstrators, calling the major party candidates “chickens” for refusing to debate them.
Two of Peirce’s friends dressed in chicken costumes. One had the nametag “Ted” and the other, of course, was “Ken.”
However, Ted and Ken, the chickens, made the same mistake many other of the 150 demonstrators made, spending more time in the street than on the sidewalk. Evidently, they had been warned more than once to stay out of the traffic by members of the Cleveland police force. In any event, the chickens were unceremoniously hauled off in a police cruiser after being arrested for failing to comply with a lawful order and failure to use ordinary care.
“It isn’t fair,” Peirce said in an interview, “the crowd spilled into the street. The chickens weren’t at fault.”
Peirce, a member of the Libertarian Party, said his chicken friends were symbols meant to shame Blackwell and Strickland “for refusing to appear on the same platform with me.”
More upset at the chickens’ arrest than Peirce was Fitrakis who also wanted to be arrested.
“I can’t catch a break in this town,” said Fitrakis, who at one point shouted, “Why are police detaining Libertarian supporters but not Blackwell supporters?”
“I’m here because I believe in democracy. In a democracy all four of us would be on that podium,” Fitrakis told the Enquirer. “This crowd here and Peirce and the chickens and I have created a Bill of Rights enforcement zone.”
Unique among this year’s gubernatorial campaigns, foreign affairs is a major plank in Fitrakis’ platform.
“As long as we’re waging war nothing else will get done … our infrastructure won’t get rebuilt, jobs won’t be created. I want to know Blackwell and Strickland’s stand on Iraq. Those two don’t span the space from A to B.”
The third debate will be at 7 p.m. Oct. 4 at the University of Cincinnati.
Peirce, Fitrakas and the chickens plan to be there.