The RNC has scheduled a conference call with the campaigns for Wednesday and CNBC is expected to issue rules by the end of the week for the October 28 debate in Boulder, Colorado.
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Discussions by the Republican National Committee and CNBC on overhauls to the format of the party’s next presidential primary debate have put New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and other struggling candidates at risk of having diminished roles, or being knocked off stage entirely.
All candidates with a 3-percent average in the polls will make the main stage, with any tally above 2.5 percent being rounded up. Limiting the debate to eight participants, for example, and basing the criteria off of the current RealClearPolitics national average, for example, would mean that Rand Paul and Mike Huckabee would both be eliminated from the debate.
Candidates polling below that threshold will qualify for the 6 p.m. undercard.
“If you round their national average to the nearest number, they’re all at 3 percent”. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) would not qualify, as he has not scored 1 percent in any of the four initial polls. All you need is to hit one percent in any qualifying poll during the relevant time period and you’re in, even if you’re effectively averaging zero point zero.
‘We have the most diverse and experienced field of candidates in history, ‘ Priebus said, ‘and we applaud CNBC’s efforts to ensure that all of our top candidates will have an opportunity to share their views with the American people’. That debate was watched by 3.3 million viewers.
The debate will be moderated by CNBC Chief Washington Correspondent John Harwood, as well as anchors Carl Quintanilla and Becky Quick.
After speculation the network might axe the “undercard”, lower-tier debate, CNBC announced the network would indeed host two debates.
“I would want them to release [the criteria] as soon as possible actually, so that if there is any protest there is time to deal with it. It could be the strategy is – wait until the very last minute to release them, there won’t be anytime for protesting, just move on with it – I suspect there may be something to that, I don’t know“, said Carson.
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Candidates had been anxious the network might opt for only one debate and squeeze out viable candidates from a chance to take the stage at all. Sen. In fact, didn’t Chuck Todd say just a few days ago that NBC felt no pressure to feature 10 or 11 candidates like the first two debates did?
