Until yesterday, Fox News, the sponsor of the first Republican presidential debate, had been planning a single Republican presidential debate on August 6, limited to the top ten candidates as determined by polls. But on June 10, Fox News said it will also hold a second debate on the same day for candidates who aren’t in the top ten but who are at 1% or more in the polls. That new debate will be in the afternoon, whereas the one for the top ten will be in the evening.
Fox News appears to have expanded its debates because the New Hampshire Union-Leader had said it was going to hold a debate for candidates who weren’t in the top ten but who were at 1%. See this story. Thanks to Doug McNeil for the link.
So the “new” debate will actually be held first. The question is, will it be aired first?
So if most polls are +/- a few percentages points accurate (and based on polling in general that is generous) how will they be able to eliminate anyone?
So, if they used today’s polling averages from Real Clear Politics, the debates would be…
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MAIN STAGE
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Jeb Bush
Scott Walker
Marco Rubio
Ben Carson
Rand Paul
Mike Huckabee
Ted Cruz
Chris Christie
Donald Trump
Rick Perry
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THE KIDS TABLE
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John Kasich
Rick Santorum
Carly Fiorina
Lindsey Graham
Bobby Jindal
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WATCHING ON TV
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George Pataki
Mark Everson
I do not want to sound like a broken record, but with the possible exception of Newt Gingrich, I don’t hear any major players talking about just dividing them into two groups by random draw and having two debates. THAT is the solution.
They had to lower the threshold to make sure that Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina would be on the stage. Otherwise it would be all old white guys.
If Miss America and Miss USA can handle 51 contestants, and the Bachelorette can handle 26, why can’t Fox News?
Perhaps they can ask pageant owner Donald Trump for advice, if he’s not one of the 51.