Nader and Buchanan blast political system, complain they are being denied chance to debate Tuesday

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Third-party presidential candidates Pat Buchanan and Ralph Nader charged Monday night that they've been frozen out of presidential debates by a political system that is manipulated by a two-party monopoly backed by huge corporate contributors.

Speaking on CNN's "Larry King Live" Monday evening, the two candidates made similar attacks on the two main presidential candidates, despite offering far different remedies of how to fix a system that they said was out of touch with American voters.

Vice President Al Gore and Gov. George W. Bush are "Xerox copies" of one another, said Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan.

"The debate system is set up to keep me out of the debates," said Buchanan, referring to the series of presidential debates between the major-party candidates that begins Tuesday in Boston, Massachusetts.

Buchanan appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" on Monday night

A 'corporate party with two heads'

Nader, who said he planned to be in the crowd Tuesday night, called the Democratic and Republican parties a "corporate party with two heads" that does not want any competition.

The Commission on Presidential Debates, set up by Democrats and Republicans to manage the debate process, excluded Nader and other third-party candidates last Tuesday. To qualify, it said they would have to be on the ballot in enough states to have a theoretical chance of winning the election and show around 15 percent support in national public opinion surveys. Nader recently had about 5 percent in the polls, and Buchanan about 1 percent.

Nader, a lawyer who made his reputation as a consumer's advocate, said the current economic boom is illusory, because workers are making less than in past years.

Both presidential candidates have "sold our government to the highest bidder," he said at another point.

Return surplus to taxpayers, Buchanan says

Buchanan, a former journalist and aide to President Ronald Reagan, said he would return the budget surplus to the American taxpayers, now that the budget has been balanced.

Nader spoke to Larry King on Monday night

"I was going to summit meetings in Beijing and Moscow when both of those guys were in college," he said, adding that Bush and Gore were "two Beltway people funded by lobbies and corporations."

"You don't get up in the polls unless you get on the debates, and you don't get on the debates unless you go up in the polls," Buchanan said.

From CNN Interactive Writer David Paulin