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You are here: Home / 2016 Campaign / Fewer Candidates Likely to Make Next Debate

Fewer Candidates Likely to Make Next Debate

December 23, 2015 at 8:30 am EST By Taegan Goddard 25 Comments

Fox Business unveiled the criteria for its upcoming debate January 14 and the Washington Post concludes the next GOP debate stage could be much smaller.

“The top six candidates in the five most recent live-caller polls get to be in the main debate. So do the top five in the five most recent polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. Which means that as few as six candidates could participate in the main debate — and that we may not know for certain until shortly before the Jan. 11 deadline for polls to be included in the calculus.”

According to Politico calculations based on only the latest national polling available, the primetime debate stage would include Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush and Chris Christie.

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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