The first Republican presidential primary debate throw-down begins at 6 p.m. tonight on Fox News. Yes, TONIGHT — in South Carolina. This one has drawn more chatter for who is blowing it off (Ex-Mass Guv Mitt Romney, ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Rep. Michele Bachmann) than for who is actually deigning to attend.

No, we don’t get why any presidential hopeful would blow off a debate on the GOP news outlet of choice (FOX) in a key early primary state (South Carolina) when none of these folks are exactly lapping the field. Then again, we still don’t know what Mitt was thinking when he busted out “Who Let the Dogs Out?” on MLK Day. (Must see video resurrected here.)

In May 2007, the first GOP debate attracted 10 candidates.

On Thursday, only five — former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, former PA Sen. Rick Santorum and wealthy businessman Herman Cain are expected to show.

Of those, Paul polls the highest: 6 percent.

Conventional wisdom: Why is Pawlenty slumming it with these guys? He may lose stature by appearing alongside them.

Conventional wisdom debunking: Uh, maybe because Pawlenty IS LIVING in the polling slums at this point in the election. Dude’s polling at 3 percent. Or three points higher than my dog, who hasn’t even formed an exploratory committee yet like T-Paw has.

But don’t blame the short field on FOX News says…uh…FOX News:

“Our job is not to marshal the field but to take stock of the field by asking the hard questions of those who decide to get in the race,” Michael Clemente, FOX’s vice president of news relayed to us. “And we’ll have four more debates across the political year, with whoever is in as the campaign unfolds.”

The format: Foreign and domestic topics covered. No opening statements. (There is a God!) Candidates get 60 seconds to answer each question and 30 seconds to rebut.

Of course, we will be watching. But until the full field shows up, we won’t do a Presidential Debate Drinking Game. Maybe next time.