Left out of debate’s top tier, riled Paul pushes poll recount
Can’t accept lower designation, he says
DES MOINES, Iowa — U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and former technology executive Carly Fiorina will not appear on the prime-time debate stage when the Republican Party’s 2016 presidential class faces off tonight in South Carolina.
Paul said Wednesday on MSNBC that he is appealing the exclusion.
“We will be letting them know today that they should be counting The Des Moines Register poll and seeing if they want to reassess or maybe if there has been an error in the calculations,” Paul said. “We refuse to accept their designation.” Paul placed fifth in the Iowa Poll, which is coordinated by the Register and Bloomberg News and released Wednesday.
Paul and Fiorina were invited to participate in a 5 p.m. “undercard” debate. Paul said Monday that he would skip the second-tier face-off.
“An artificial designation as being in the second tier is something we can’t accept,” he told CNN. “I won’t participate in anything that’s not the first tier.”
Debate host Fox Business Network announced the debate lineup Monday evening, dealing a blow to both candidates three weeks before Iowa’s leadoff presidential caucuses. Just seven candidates — the smallest Republican group to debate so far — will be featured in the main event at 8 p.m., based on criteria established by the network that relied on recent polls.
Real estate mogul Donald Trump, the leader in most recent polls, again will appear center stage in the debate. He’ll be joined on stage by U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
To qualify for the main stage of that debate, candidates had to place in the top six in an average of the five most recent national polls, or in the top five in an average of surveys of Iowa or New
Hampshire. The polls had to be “recognized by Fox News” and released by Monday.
“This one is within their guidelines, within their framework, and we’re telling them today they should be counting it,” Paul said of the Iowa Poll, which was conducted last week but not released until after the Fox deadline. In the poll of 500 Republicans, Paul placed ahead of main-stage debate participants Bush, Christie and Kasich.
Paul said the fault didn’t lie with the networks.
“I think it’s the Republican Party,” he said. “They’ve been saying for months they’re going to narrow the field.”
A spokesman for Fox indicated the network will not be reconsidering its decision. Fox had “clearly stated the polling needed to be conducted and released” by Monday, she said.
A spokesman for the Republican Party did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Before the lineup was announced, Paul strategist Doug Stafford said, “This race is hitting its final stretch, and Rand Paul is a serious contender for the nomination. He expects to be on the stage this week because he has qualified to do so and because he has a top-tier campaign.”
Stafford noted that Paul has qualified for primary ballots in every state, has more than 1,000 precinct captains in Iowa, and has a 500-person leadership team in New Hampshire.
Fox Business Network said the prime-time lineup would include the top six candidates in the five most recent national polls in addition to any candidate in the top five in either Iowa or New Hampshire.
Others invited to the undercard event are former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, both of whom have won previous Iowa caucuses.