“It’s only fitting that this phase of the Republican presidential nomination begins in Ohio-the Mother of Presidents”. Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page shares what we can expect at this Thursday’s debate.
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Among those bounced to the earlier forum are former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and businesswoman Carly Fiorina, the only woman in the GOP field.
Whether by luck or smart tactics, Kasich announced his candidacy last month, just in time to be enjoying the usual announcement bounce in polls as the debaters get picked. On Monday, talk of a “Jeb swag store” also seemed odd, but his campaign unveiled an online store Wednesday featuring mugs, a guacamole bowl and a T-shirt suggesting that if someone disagrees that George H.W. Bush is the greatest, “We can step outside”.
As expected, Fox News announced Tuesday night that the Republican from Seneca will not be among the 10 GOP candidates taking part in a televised prime-time debate Thursday night in Cleveland. Afterward, network officials said they had used a simple, arithmetical average of poll results, rather than one weighted by sample size, and had rounded off percentages to the nearest tenth.
Really, though-look at this map (Donald Trump is in red, gray areas represent places where sufficient data wasn’t available).
In the Fox poll, Kasich had support of 3 percent of GOP voters, tied with Christie.
Trump’s recent surge in the polls, a surprise to many Republican officials, damaged Fiorina’s chances.
Republicans and local media figures in New Hampshire, which traditionally hosts the nation’s first primary in presidential election years, blasted the Fox criteria in an open letter and a forum held in Manchester on Monday that drew 14 candidates, respectively.
“You’re starting off with a lot of candidates who have an initial group of support that reflect a particular element of the party, but nobody is close at this point to putting together a majority coalition”, said David Winston, a Republican pollster. “After all, it is the voters, not the press, who should pick the nominee”, it said.
“A problem-solver that isn’t a career politician is something that’s appealing to many people”, said Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican.
With the debate rules’ emphasis on national name recognition, many candidates turned to tactics seen as an attempt to elbow their way into the Trump-dominated headlines, including chain-sawing the tax code (Paul), destroying a cellphone with a baseball bat (Graham), and likening Obama’s Iran nuclear deal to marching Israelis “to the door of the oven” (Huckabee). “I count on the fact that Fox will be fair about doling out the time to everybody”.
The debate will offer a first glimpse of Trump operating without a script, said Smith.
Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace will moderate the primetime Fox News presidential debate from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Candidates who are called upon will be given 30 seconds for rebuttals.
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One point that all the polls agree on is that Trump continues to lead the field.
