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 Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, former U.S. Senator Rick
Santorum and five others in the crowded 2016 Republican field were
left out of Thursday's televised 9 p.m. EDT debate by host Fox News,
which invited the top 10 candidates in an average of five recent
opinion polls.
The leftover candidates will appear in a separate forum outside of
the spotlight at 5 p.m. EDT on Thursday, leaving them fighting to
win attention and prove to voters and donors they have a legitimate
shot at the nomination.
At center stage in prime time will be Trump, the real estate mogul
who has shot to the top of Republican polls, flanked by former
Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, the
top three finishers in the poll average.
Also making the cut were former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee,
retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio of
Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Governors
Christie of New Jersey and Kasich of Ohio.
Shuffled to the earlier forum were Perry, Santorum, U.S. Senator
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal,
former business executive Carly Fiorina, former New York Governor
George Pataki and former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore.
Those candidates deemed not ready for prime time at the Cleveland
debate tried to stay positive.
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"I look forward to answering
questions on Thursday in Cleveland," Fiorina said in a statement.
Perry said on Twitter he looked forward to the forum "for what will
be a serious exchange of ideas and positive solutions to get America
back on track."
Fox's decision to limit the participants created weeks of anxiety
for those on the bubble. It also was criticized by some Republicans
as unfair given the number of candidates bunched in the low single
digits, well within the margin of error of most polls.
Fox said Kasich, the last debate qualifier, averaged 3.2 percent in
the polling. Perry, the first one out, averaged 1.8 percent.
Fox said it used polls conducted by Bloomberg, CBS News, Fox News,
Monmouth University and Quinnipiac University, the five most recent
national polls using standard methodology.
(Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson; Editing by Sandra Maler,
Eric Beech and Leslie Adler)
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