Any Republican presidential candidate who won’t be part of Fox News’ debate on Thursday might as well go home, according to one expert on presidential debates.
“If you’re not in the debate, you’re not going to be considered,” said Dr. Todd Graham, director of debate at Southern Illinois University, in an interview with the Washington Examiner media desk.
Thursday’s primetime debate, the first of the GOP presidential primary campaign, is reserved for only the 10 candidates who placed at the top of an average of national polls. By Fox’s calculation, that includes Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie and John Kasich.
The consolation prize for the other seven candidates — Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki and Jim Gilmore — who didn’t make the cut: a “forum” that takes place at 5 p.m. ET, four hours earlier than the official debate.
Graham, the debate expert, said even though Fox is allotting time to 17 candidates total, only those who make it onto the stage among the top 10 have any chance of becoming the GOP nominee. He said the optics of appearing in the forum will do catastrophic damage to the rest.
“They’re not calling it a debate, they’re calling it a forum — they’re calling it something different,” he said. “It’s clearly for people who aren’t designated as one of the leading candidates.”
Graham said the moment, at least as far as voters are concerned, will differentiate the winners from the losers. “It’s different to be codified in pictures and in stories as ‘not belonging,'” he said. “It sets you up as not as good as the other candidates.”
