Paul: I won’t participate in undercard debate

[mystery-ak]

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/264113-paul-i-wont-participate-in-undercard-debate

December 23, 2015, 01:29 pm
Paul: I won’t participate in undercard debate

By Bradford Richardson

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says he won’t participate in the next Republican presidential debate if he fails to make the main stage.

“I won’t participate in any kind of second-tier debates,” Paul said on Fox News Radio's “Kilmeade & Friends” on Wednesday, as first reported by BuzzFeed News.

“We’ve got a first-tier campaign. I’ve got 800 precinct chairmen in Iowa. I’ve got 100 people on the ground working for me. I’ve raised $25 million. I’m not gonna let any network or anybody tell me we’re not a first-tier campaign,” he added.

“I frankly just won’t be told by the media which tier I’m in, and we’re not willing to accept that, because we’re a first-tier campaign, and we’re in it to win it, and we won’t be told that we’re in a tier that can’t win.”

Criteria for the next Republican primary debate, hosted by Fox Business Network on Jan. 14, may relegate some candidates previously on the main stage to the second billing.

According to an analysis by The Hill, the next top-tier debate could shrink to six candidates, leaving out GOP candidates like Paul, Carly Fiorina, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

The Fox Business Network debate allows three avenues for candidates to qualify for the main debate stage.

Participants must place in the top six in an average of five recent national polls, or top five in an average of recent polls from Iowa or New Hampshire.

Currently, according to RealClearPolitics averages, the top six Republican candidates nationally — Donald Trump, Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Marco Rubio (Fla.), Ben Carson, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — are in the top five in either Iowa or New Hampshire or both.

[EdinVA]

I frankly just won’t be told by the media which tier I’m in...

Good... I wish the other candidates would push back on the media more..

[Longiron]

Rand sold his soul when he supported Mitch McConnell in the KY primary and many said he would regret that decision. They were right and his campaign went down hill from that point on.

[flowers]

Good... I wish the other candidates would push back on the media more..

[jmyrlefuller]

Rand sold his soul when he supported Mitch McConnell in the KY primary and many said he would regret that decision. They were right and his campaign went down hill from that point on.

Pretty much. The white-supremacist bloc went for Trump and the rest are either staying home or supporting Bernie Sanders.

[libertybele]

??? I understand his point I suppose, but that means that he won't be participating in the next debate, so why doesn't he just bow out, unless he thinks he's going to take Iowa?

[EdinVA]

??? I understand his point I suppose, but that means that he won't be participating in the next debate, so why doesn't he just bow out, unless he thinks he's going to take Iowa?

Well, IMHO, the debates are just show... never any real substance to them.
A talking head firing off questions they scoop up from the internet.... :)

[Sanguine]

Good... I wish the other candidates would push back on the media more..

I just wish more of them would quit.