With his place on the primetime debate stage in jeopardy, Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul argued Monday that Fox Business, the sponsor of Thursday’s televised showdown, cannot exclude him “in clear conscience.”
I don’t think there’s any way anybody in clear conscience could try to exclude us from being on the main stage. … I think there’s a lot of evidence that would be difficult to overcome to try to exclude us,” Paul said in a conference call with reporters.
Fox Business says it will announce who they are inviting to the debate during its Lou Dobbs Tonight show Monday evening.
Major candidates that don’t meet the threshold for the primetime debate will be invited to an undercard debate earlier Thursday, but Paul says he will not participate in any earlier debate.
According to Fox Business: “This debate will feature candidates that place in the top six nationally, based on an average of the five most recent national polls; or place in the top five in Iowa, based on an average of the five most recent Iowa state polls; or place in the top five in New Hampshire, based on an average of the five most recent New Hampshire state polls.”
Under that criteria, it seems Paul — who has participated in all prior primetime debates — might not make the cut this time. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina also could be excluded.
Paul’s campaign is arguing that because he has a campaign that reflects he is a “serious contender,” he should not be excluded with just weeks before Iowa and New Hampshire votes.
“He is on the ballot in every state,” said Doug Stafford, Paul’s chief strategist. “He has over 1,000 precinct captains in Iowa and a huge 500 person leadership team in New Hampshire.”
While Paul might not make the cut according to Fox’s criteria, Paul’s campaign argued in a Monday statement: “Multiple national polls including CNN, CBS, Fox, Marist and others have him in 5th or 6th place, one had him just a single point out of 4th. In multiple polls he scores ahead of Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, John Kasich and Carly Fiorina. In yesterday’s Marist Iowa poll he was alone in 5th place.”
Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush and John Kasich appear most likely to make the primetime debate set to be moderated by Neil Cavuto and Maria Bartiromo.
During Monday’s conference call with reporters, Paul discussed this week’s expected vote on audit the Federal Reserve legislation in the Senate especially supported by his libertarian-leaning followers.
“We are excited that tomorrow we’re going to get a vote on ‘Audit the Fed,'” Paul said. “I’ve been trying to get a vote on ‘Audit the Fed’ since I first was elected in 2010. We’ve had many many conversations with [Democratic Senate leader Harry] Reid about allowing a vote to no avail. So we’re excited that we will be getting the vote.”
Speaking of the legislation — which has previously passed in the House — Paul said: “I think it brings up the idea and the discussion of whether the fed has influence on the economy and what the fed’s influence, whether it’s a positive influence or a negative influence and whether their policies have been good. This is a transparency bill and we really think it has a shot of winning.”