Thread: Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee could get seats at ‘kiddie table’

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/poli...icle-1.2381833

Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee could get seats at ‘kiddie table’ at next GOP 2016 debate after criteria released
BY Adam Edelman
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, October 1, 2015, 3:05 PM

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) could face relegation to the “undercard” event in the third Republican 2016 debate on Oct. 28.

Rand Paul, Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee could be headed for the “kiddie table “after CNBC on Thursday released strict criteria for the third GOP 2016 debate.

The cable network, which is hosting and televising the Oct. 28 event in Boulder, Colo., revealed that, to qualify to appear at the main debate, candidates must reach an average of 3% in a set list of national polls taken between Sept. 17 and Oct. 21.

Only national polls conducted by NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, CNN and Bloomberg will be considered in the average.

Those who poll at an average of 2.5% will have their number rounded up to 3% and will also be included and there is no cap on how many candidates can participate, the network said.

But all others who poll above 1% will be relegated to the “undercard” event — a separate, earlier debate which also occurred at the prior two events — that politicos have labeled the “kiddie table.”

In particular danger of such a demotion are Huckabee, Christie, and Paul, who, according to the latest average of national polls put together by Real Clear Politics, got support of 3%, 3% and 2.3%, respectively. The trio of lawmakers had appeared at the primetime event in both of the past two debates.

A subsequent downgrade would cap a remarkable plunge for Paul, who as recently as late May was polling the the double-digits.

Paul is widely thought to be the next candidate to drop out of the race — former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker were the first two — amid the precipitous decline in his polling numbers and after reports emerged that one of his PACs had stopped raising money in recent days.

Under the criteria, and using Real Clear Politics’ most recent polling averages, Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz and John Kasich would all be shoe-ins for qualifying for the main debate, which will be moderated by CNBC Chief Washington Correspondent John Harwood, as well as anchors Carl Quintanilla and Becky Quick.