Kim Norvell

knorvell@dmreg.com

Republican presidential hopeful Rand Paul is making a last-minute push to get on the main stage for Thursday’s debate, citing the latest Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll to show he meets the entry criteria.

The Kentucky senator said he has been in touch with Fox Business Network and the Republican National Committee to request that they re-assess which candidates qualify for the prime time debate. Paul sits at 5 percent in Iowa, or fifth place among Republican presidential candidates, according to the latest poll.

Fox Business announced Monday that Paul, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum qualified for the undercard debate at 5 p.m. The Paul campaign immediately said the senator will not participate and “instead will take his message directly to the voters of New Hampshire and Iowa.”

“We think it’s a bad decision by the Republican Party to exclude us from the debate, and it also disenfranchises the voters of Iowa and of New Hampshire,” Paul said in an interview with the Register. “You’re taking away the ability of early primary states to decide who the victors are by trying to pre-decide the election by pre-deciding the debate stage.”

In a statement to Politico, Fox Business said the stage of seven candidates is set and no candidate will get a second look.

"We announced the criteria in December and clearly stated the polling needed to be conducted and released by Monday, Jan. 11," a spokesperson told the network.

A request for comment from the Republican National Committee, which sanctions the debate, was not immediately returned.

According to Fox Business, candidates who placed in the top six nationally, in the top five in Iowa or in the top five in New Hampshire earned their spot in the prime time debate at 8 p.m. They took the average of the five most recent polls, conducted and released before Monday.

Although the Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics poll was conducted prior to the deadline, the results were not released until early Wednesday morning. Paul said the time the poll was conducted should be a factor in Fox Business’ final decision.

“We think the standards are arbitrary and capricious to begin with,” the senator said, adding no candidate who has raised money or has an organized campaign should be excluded. “But given those arbitrary and capricious standards, we meet them.”

Paul said it would behoove the Republican National Committee to ensure all voices, specifically of a liberty-focused candidate, are included during the debate if they want to continue to grow the party.

“Our supporters are outraged by this,” he said.

Paul publicly lobbied CNN in December to allow room for him on the main stage during its latest GOP debate, for which he narrowly qualified. Politico reported the network tweaked its rules last minute to add a ninth podium.