You sure get in a snit over nothing. Why do we have to fill stage with candidates who can’t poll 10%? I want to hear more from those candidates who have a chance to win nomination.
These early primaries are supposed to give the people who aren't media magnets (Giuliani, McCain, Romney) a fair shot at winning over the Republican base. If we automatically set the level at 10%, that would give the media way too much power over the decisionmaking process, and we all know what they're up to. At least in the early rounds, we should have as many of the candidates out there as feasible. We have plenty of time. (For the record, it's not like they're letting any Joe Bob Candidate into the debates. They still have to have 1% recognition or something like that.)
Now that we've seen most of the qualified candidates, I think it's fair that we raise the threshold to something like 3-5%, so that the underdogs like Hunter and Tancredo, who may have a chance if they can get some press, can stay in it.