LIVE POST: Republican Debate Starts @ 8pm EST on ABC

Feb 06, 2016 19:00



*Carly Fiorina has not dropped out, but she is excluded from this debate

LIVE STREAM HERE

On Saturday night, the GOP field will gather in Manchester, New Hampshire for the final Republican debate before the state's first-in-the-nation primary.

Those qualifying for the main stage include businessman Donald Trump, 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.

This is the only Republican debate to take place between the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. Cruz won the Iowa Republican caucuses, followed by Donald Trump, and then Marco Rubio. Trump and Rubio were separated by a single percentage point in the race.

Going into the Granite State primary, Donald Trump holds a double-digit lead in most polls, with Rubio in second.

This debate, hosted by ABC News and the Independent Journal Review, will be the first forum to exclude an undercard debate stage for Republicans.

Despite attempts by Carly Fiorina to be included on the debate stage, ABC News declined. She is the only remaining Republican who has ever been included on the main debate stage in a primary debate who is being excluded.

Fiorina's campaign is set to air an ad during CBS' Super Bowl broadcast on Sunday firing back at ABC News as the "Anyone But Carly" network. The ad buy, according to the campaign was a six-figure sum.

Candidates qualified for the debate stage if they met one of three requirements: finishing in the top three by popular vote in the Iowa caucuses, placing in the top six in an average of New Hampshire polls recognized by ABC News, or polling in the top six in an average of national GOP polls deemed valid by the network.

ABC News anchor David Muir and ABC News chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz will moderate the debate. Additional questions will be posed by WMUR political director Josh McElveen and conservative blogger Mary Katharine Ham.

Saturday's debate will be the final Republican forum before the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, Feb. 9.

Source

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