Story highlights Rand Paul is boycotting the GOP debate after he was relegated to the undercard

Paul's interviews have reached a larger audience than the typical non-prime time debate

Charleston (CNN) Skipping Thursday's debate may have been Rand Paul's savviest political move yet.

The Kentucky senator's decision to boycott the sixth Republican showdown after being relegated to the earlier undercard round has resulted in far more airtime and significantly larger audiences than Paul could possibly have hoped for at the Fox Business Network debate.

Instead of flying to South Carolina for debate prep, Paul has been on a two-day media tour in New York City, after which he will head to New Hampshire and Iowa. In the last 48 hours, he has done interviews with "The Dr. Oz Show," Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," and Fox News, as well as multiple interviews with CNN and MSNBC, that were all pegged to his decision to skip the debate.

Based on those show's averages, the Paul interviews have likely been watched by at least 7 million people total. The last Fox Business undercard debate, in November, averaged 4.7 million viewers.

Thursday's undercard kicks off at 6:00 p.m. ET, while the main debate begin at 9:00 p.m. -- prime time.

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