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Next Week’s GOP Debate: Who’s In and Who’s Out of the Top 11

Friday, September 11, 2015 12:34

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(Before It's News)

Donald Trump and Jeb Bush during the first Republican debate in August 2015.(Peter Stevens / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Next week’s prime-time Republican presidential debate will feature 11 candidates, including businesswoman Carly Fiorina, CNN announced Thursday.

Fiorina will join front-runner Donald Trump and other Republican candidates on Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. ET at the Ronald Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, Calif. This will be second debate of 2016 election cycle, this time sponsored by CNN.

So, who’s in and who’s out?

NPR tells us:

The former Hewlett-Packard CEO plus the original 10 top Republican candidates will face off…[alongside] front-runner Donald Trump, former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

Just five candidates will be relegated to the earlier 6 p.m. ET debate — referred to as the “happy hour” debate or “kid’s table” by some. Those five include former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former New York Gov. George Pataki. Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore didn’t meet polling standards to even be included in the lower-tier debate.

Fiorina — who was the breakout star of the first debate, even though she didn’t make the main stage — will be included Wednesday thanks to a late rule change by CNN. The network had previously said it would take the average of polls dating back to mid-July — which wouldn’t have captured Fiorina’s late surge. After complaints from both her campaign and many other candidates and strategists, CNN then said last week it would include anyone who registered in the top 10 since the beginning of August.

Her inclusion also gives Republicans a female candidate on the stage — someone who can counter the perception that the GOP can’t appeal to women. Fiorina has also proved to be a salient attack dog against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

Fiorina’s presence gives her a chance to confront Trump, who will again be center stage, head on. Even after a Fox News debate performance where he attacked moderator Megyn Kelly and after continuing to make controversial comments, Trump’s support has only grown. In a CNN poll released Thursday, he now takes 32 percent of the vote, and 41 percent of Republicans believe he will be the nominee.

On Thursday he faced a new controversy, after a Rolling Stone article quoted him pointing to Fiorina on TV and exclaiming, “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president.” Trump claimed he was talking about her persona.

Read the full article here.

—Posted by Roisin Davis

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