Fox to help pick GOP S.C. debate participants
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18348427/
Positive sentiments to the upcoming California debate later on this week, but this debate upcoming in South Carolina seems much more my cup of tea. This will be a solid debate platform where real ideas will flow, and they’ll actually have to express themselves.
Candidates must have at least 1% rating in state or national polls
COLUMBIA, S.C. - Fox News will have a say in deciding which Republican presidential candidates participate in next month’s debate in South Carolina.
State Party chairman Katon Dawson and a spokesman for the news channel said Thursday that they had agreed on a criteria, including polling numbers, for choosing which of the 10 GOP candidates will take part in the May 15 debate.
“We understand there’s not room for everybody on a nationwide political stage for a Republican debate,” Dawson said.
Criteria threatens seven of ten candidates
Marty Ryan, executive producer of political programming for Fox News Channel, said the polling criteria would ensure “that serious candidates were taking part in our debate.”The party sent a letter to the candidates saying they must have filed papers establishing an exploratory committee or full-blown candidacy and paid the fees associated with the state primary.
They also must have “garnered at least 1 percent in recent state and national polls leading up to the registration deadline, as determined by Fox News Channel and the South Carolina Republican Party,” according to Rob Godfrey, the state party’s communications director.
In a variety of national and state polls, seven of the 10 candidates hover around 1 percent or less. Only Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney easily meet the criteria based on polling.
The standard has the potential to bar several candidates from the debate and anger the lesser-known GOP hopefuls.
Dawson said the criteria was jointly developed so “we wouldn’t have people who were just willing to pay a filing fee and think that they could show up and be on the stage. There are a lot of people who would like to be able to vent their special interests on a presidential stage.”
“If you’re not in the poll number and you haven’t met the criteria, no, you won’t be able to get on the stage,” he said.
State parties run the presidential primary balloting in early voting South Carolina. Presidential hopefuls must file with the state GOP and pay their primary entry fee by May 1 to qualify to participate in the May 15 debate in Columbia. Giuliani was the first to do so last week. McCain did so on Thursday.
All 10 Republican candidates will be participating in the first Republican debate next Thursday at the Reagan Library in California.
Ann Marie
April 29th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
I don’t object to minor candidates participating in debate, but just once, I would like to see a debate between the top 3.
April 29th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
I’m not sure I would totally dismiss the minor candidates yet. Since we are so early in the process, I think having more participants only helps the national debate if for no other reasons than there are more ideas being considered. We have plenty of time to narrow down.
April 29th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
I would agree, unless a major network such as Fox is only doing one debate. Hopefully they’ll do at least two. If that’s the case, then we should have at least one debate with those that have filed with the FEC.