CHARLESTON, S.C.--Perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche asked South Carolina Democratic leaders Monday to allow him to participate in Saturday's presidential debate.

But state Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian said there would be no invitation.

"I'm not inviting him," Harpootlian said. "I think LaRouche is not a credible Democratic candidate. He's not going to participate in our  process this weekend."

LaRouche, who has run for the Democratic nomination in every election since 1976, wants to join nine Democrats in Columbia for the nationally televised event.

 It will be the first formal debate among the hopefuls seeking the party's nomination to run for president next year. South Carolina also is staging the first Democratic primary in the South on Feb. 3.

LaRouche's campaign released an open letter to the state party signed by eight South Carolina legislators, former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Theo Mitchell and several members of the state party's executive committee.

It also was signed by lawmakers from 11 other states and former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders.

"The attempt to limit the nominating process to an agreed upon number of candidates, as designated by the news media and a handful of people in the national party, is discriminatory," the letter said.

"Now is the time for fair and open debate on the critical issues facing our nation and our party," said the letter, which noted LaRouche is a registered candidate.

According to filings with the Federal Election Commission, LaRouche has raised $3.7 million this election cycle.

Three years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed the national Democratic Party lawfully refused to count votes cast for LaRouche during the 1996 presidential primaries.

In January of that year, Don Fowler of Columbia, then-chairman of the Democratic National Committee, sent a letter to state party across the country saying LaRouche was "not a bona fide Democrat" because his beliefs were "explicitly racist and anti-Semitic."

Fowler's letter said state parties should disregard any votes cast for LaRouche and not allocate any delegates to him. LaRouche sued, contending the nominating procedures violated his civil rights and had not won proper clearance on the federal Voting Rights Act.

"It's outrageous. It's stupid" that LaRouche was not invited to the debate, said campaign spokeswoman Debra Freeman, who added she wasn't surprised.

"The Democratic Party in the state of South Carolina has long been under the influence of Don Fowler," she said, adding there would be no attempt to take legal action. "We will continue doing what we have been doing and take the campaign directly to the people."

The candidates set to participate in the debate are Carol Moseley-Braun, a former senator from Illinois; former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean; Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina; Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri; Sen. Bob Graham of Florida; Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts; Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio; Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut; and the Rev. Al Sharpton of New York.

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