On Media Blog Archives Select Date… December, 2015 November, 2015 October, 2015 September, 2015 August, 2015 July, 2015 June, 2015 May, 2015 April, 2015 March, 2015 February, 2015 January, 2015

RNC, networks mull criteria for inclusion in GOP debates

The Republican National Committee is working with both Fox News and CNN to determine the entrance criteria for the bevy of Republican presidential candidates hoping to attend the early stage primary debates, Time's Zeke Miller reports.

With as many as 17 possible GOP primary candidates, the decision over inclusion and placement could have significant influence on candidates' performances in early states like Iowa and New Hampshire.

"Failure to earn a place on the stage will likely be the death knell to a campaign, depriving a candidate of an opportunity to shine, and a visible mark of failure in a crowded field," Miller writes of the first debate, which will take place this August in Cleveland.

Miller says that party officials and network executives are considering a range of criteria for inclusion. "Among the options being considered is using polling as a rough inclusionary test, followed by a fundraising metric—dollars raised or the number of individual donors activated," he writes. "All of these things are in flux as the networks and the national party struggle with the largest plausible debate field in history."

Read Miller's full report here.