Rand Paul Back on GOP Primetime Debate Stage as Donald Trump Mulls Exit
Rand Paul answers questions from the media as he campaigns in downtown Sioux City, Iowa, earlier this month. -Zuma Press
Republican presidential hopeful Rand Paul made the cut for Thursday’s primetime debate, Fox News said Tuesday, after being left out of the main event earlier this month due to weak poll showings.
In another change, former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore will be back on a debate stage for the first time since August, qualifying for the undercard contest.
The rest of the lineup will look the same, Fox News said. Front-runner Donald Trump will again take center podium, with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on one side and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on the other. A total of eight candidates-up from seven earlier this month-are set to participate in the main debate. The undercard debate will feature four contenders: Former Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Carly Fiorina, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Mr. Gilmore. Mr. Gilmore had failed to qualify for every debate since the first one, in August.
The candidate lineup for the 9p ET Fox News-Google #GOPDebate on Thursday, January 28th: pic.twitter.com/OO6ExOojvt
- Fox News (@FoxNews) January 26, 2016
The announcement of the lineup came as Fox News was engaged in a public spat with Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump has threatened to boycott the debate if Fox’s Megyn Kelly served as a moderator, calling her “biased.” In the Fox debate last year that Ms. Kelly moderated, she and Mr. Trump tussled, and he drew criticism following the debate for making remarks that appeared to suggest she was on her period.
In response, Fox News issued a tongue-in-cheek press release on Tuesday, suggesting that a presidential candidate should be prepared to deal with those he thinks will treat him unfairly. “We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president - a nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings,” a Fox News spokesman said.
Mr. Trump, in a press conference in Marshalltown, Iowa, late Tuesday, said he “most likely” won’t participate, blaming what he called a “wise guy” statement by Fox News that he said read like it was “written by a child.”
To qualify for the primetime debate, candidates needed to rank in the top six in an average of five recent national polls recognized by Fox News, or in the top five of five recent polls in Iowa or New Hampshire. The undercard debate required candidates to garner at least 1% support in one of five recent national polls.
Thursday’s debates, held in Des Moines, will be candidates’ final chance to make their case to Iowa voters ahead of the state’s caucus on Feb. 1, the first in the nation. Polls currently show Messrs. Trump and Cruz neck-and-neck for a win there.
After being demoted to the undercard debate earlier this month, Mr. Paul opted not to attend, instead doing a round of interviews on cable networks-a move that some speculated garnered him more viewers than participating in the early debate would have.
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