Skip to footer

Rand Paul, Carly Fiorina cut from main GOP debate lineup

Paul and Fiorina were invited to participate in an 'undercard' debate, although Paul said he would not.

|
AP Photo/Nati Harnik
In this Jan. 7, 2016, file photo, Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. speaks during a campaign stop in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Paul and former technology executive Carly Fiorina will not appear on the primetime debate stage when the Republican Party's 2016 presidential class faces off later this week in South Carolina.
  • By Steve Peoples Associated Press

| Des Moines, IA

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and former technology executive Carly Fiorina will not appear on the primetime debate stage when the Republican Party's 2016 presidential class faces off later this week in South Carolina.

Debate host Fox Business Network announced the debate lineup Monday evening, dealing a blow to both candidates three weeks before Iowa's leadoff presidential caucuses. Just seven candidates — the smallest Republican group so far — will be featured in Thursday's 9 p.m. ET main event, based on criteria established by the network that relied on recent polls.

Real estate mogul Donald Trump, the leader in most recent polls, will again appear center stage in the debate. He'll be joined on stage by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Paul and Fiorina were invited to participate in a 6 p.m. ET "undercard" debate, although Paul said he would skip the second-tier faceoff.

"An artificial designation as being in the second tier is something we can't accept," he told CNN on Monday. "I won't participate in anything that's not the first tier."

Before the lineup was announced, Paul strategist Doug Stafford said: "This race is hitting its final stretch and Rand Paul is a serious contender for the nomination. He expects to be on the stage this week because he has qualified to do so and because he has a top-tier campaign." Stafford noted that Paul has qualified for primary ballots in every state, has more than 1,000 precinct captains in Iowa, and has a 500-person leadership team in New Hampshire.

Fox Business Network said the primetime lineup would include the top six candidates in the five most recent national polls in addition to any candidate in the top five in either Iowa or New Hampshire.

Others invited to the undercard event include former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Rand Paul, Carly Fiorina cut from main GOP debate lineup
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2016/0111/Rand-Paul-Carly-Fiorina-cut-from-main-GOP-debate-lineup
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe