Fox News is opening its 5 p.m. debate to all the announced Republican candidates who fail to make the cut for the Aug. 6 prime-time event, removing a requirement that participants reach at least 1 percent in polling.

The change amounts to an insurance policy for candidates who were in danger of being disqualified from the vital first debate based on low polls – Carly Fiorina, former New York Gov. George Pataki and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).


The announcement by Michael Clemente, Fox News Executive Vice President, News, means that all 16 announced candidates will qualify for Cleveland — either the 5 p.m. undercard, or the 9 p.m. main event.

The 9 p.m. debate will include the 10 candidates with the highest average in national polls, as determined by Fox News. The 5 p.m. forum will now include all the rest.

According to a POLITICO analysis of the latest national polling, the prime-time participants today would be Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Rick Perry.

The next three, who would currently be relegated to 5 p.m., are Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Rick Santorum and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. They are followed by Fiorina, Pataki and Graham.

All of the candidates have been getting extensive Fox airtime. Here’s a tally of the total combined Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network appearances — several for an hour — by each of the hopefuls since their official campaign launches:

1) Paul, 35 … 2) Huckabee, 31 … 3) Trump, 30 … 4) Perry, 24 … 5-6) Fiorina and Jindal, 20 each … 7) Cruz, 17 … 8) Santorum, 16 … 9) Rubio, 14 … 10-11) Carson and Graham, 12 each … 12-13) Kasich and Pataki, 11 each … 14) Christie, 7 … 15) Walker, 4 … 16) Bush, 3.

“Due to the overwhelming interest in the FOX News Facebook Debate Event Night on August 6th and in a concerted effort to include and accommodate the now 16 Republican candidate field — the largest in modern political history — FOX News is expanding participation in the 5 PM/ET debate to all declared candidates whose names are consistently being offered to respondents in major national polls, as recognized by Fox News,” said Clemente in a statement.

“Although we are relaxing one component of our entry criteria – the requirement that candidates must score 1% or higher in an average of five most recent national polls – all other components of the criteria remain in effect for the 5 PM/ET debate. Participants must meet all U.S. Constitutional requirements; must announce and register a formal campaign for president; and must file all necessary paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), including financial disclosure.

“As for the 9 PM/ET debate, all components of the original criteria remain unchanged – including the requirement that participants must place in the top 10 of an average of the five most recent national polls, as recognized by FOX News, leading up to August 4th at 5PM/ET. Such polling must be conducted by major, nationally recognized organizations that use standard methodological techniques.

“Everyone included in these debates has a chance to be President of the United States and we look forward to showcasing all of the candidates in the first primary event of the 2016 election season.”

The 5 p.m. debate, which will last an hour, will be moderated by Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum. The 9 p.m. debate will run about 90 minutes (two hours with commercial breaks and introductions), and be moderated by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace.

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