Republican presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina will have to pull off a miracle between now and Friday to make the cut for the eighth GOP primary debate.
In order to qualify for the next debate in Greenville, S.C., CBS News has required that candidates finish in the top three in Iowa, top five in New Hampshire or land in the top five based off averages of national and South Carolina polls. The host network will only include national and state-level polls release before noon ET on Friday, Feb. 12.
Having faced tough, back-to-back losses in the earliest two nominating contests, finishing seventh in both Iowa and New Hampshire, Fiorina’s last hope for making the stage Saturday comes down to the polls. However, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard barely registers in RealClearPolitics latest polling average of Palmetto State Republicans — she draws a mere 1.7 percent support — and is polling at just 2.5 nationally. She is currently eighth on the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings.
Furthermore, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is expected to suspend his presidential campaign Wednesday, after finishing just ahead of Fiorina in New Hampshire, which could lead his backers to the support one of the other establishment-friendly
Shortly before results came pouring in Tuesday evening, Fiorina, who was axed from the seventh debate on Feb. 6, posted a complaint about the debate criteria on Twitter, claiming it is “once again allowing media executives to control GOP nomination.”
“Voters should matter. Delegates should matter,” she wrote.
By the end of the night, however, Fiorina had the same number of combined delegates between Iowa and New Hampshire as Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who both exited the race before the Granite State primary.
The CBS News debate will take place in Greenville, S.C., on Saturday, one week before the state’s primary. It will be moderated by “Face the Nation” host John Dickerson, along with CBS correspondent Major Garrett and Kimberly Strassel, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal.
