Rand Paul Says He Won’t Participate In Undercard Debate

[LatinsforPaul]

Rand Paul Says He Won’t Participate In Undercard Debate

AUDIO: Rand Paul Says He Won’t Participate In Undercard Debate

Rand Paul said on Wednesday that he will refuse to participate in a “second-tier” debate if he is relegated to the undercard stage by the Fox Business Network.

Politico reported on Tuesday that the network’s criteria to make the main stage could possibly put candidates John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, and Rand Paul in the undercard.

“I won’t participate in any kind of second-tier debate,” the Kentucky senator said on Kilmeade and Friends. “We’ve got a first-tier campaign. I’ve got 800 precinct chairman in Iowa. I’ve got a 100 people on the ground working for me. I’ve raised 25 million dollars. I’m not gonna let any network or anybody tell me we’re not a first-tier campaign. If you tell a campaign with three weeks to go that they’re in the second-tier, you destroy the campaign. This isn’t the job of the media to pick who wins. The voters ought to get a chance.”
Paul said limiting the number of candidates lays “it up in a lap” for Donald Trump, adding that he is the only candidate who would challenge the businessman. He said the network relegating him to the second-tier debate is a designation as an unserious campaign, and attacked the use of what he called imprecise polling to determine which candidates get on the stage.

“I frankly just won’t be told by the media which tier I’m in, and we’re not willing to accept that, because we’re a first-tier campaign and we’re in it to win it and we won’t be told that we’re in a tier that can’t win,” he said.

Asked about high viewership for the undercard debate, Paul said it was about the perception of not being a competitor. “It’s the kids table and at that table you’re not considered to be a competitor,” Paul said. “Not considered to be having a chance.”

He said early on, candidates could move freely between debates, but now it was too late in the election cycle to benefit from being in the undercard debate. Paul said fundraising and organization should be taken into account in qualifying for the main-stage debate.

“Without question, we have a first-tier campaign and we just can’t accept the designation of being artificially told that we don’t have a chance with three weeks ago. So we won’t stand for it and we will protest any such designation,” he said.

 

[01000110]

I'm not sure what to think about this.

 

[statist slayer]

Y'know, with the distinct possibility that Jeb may be relegated to the kiddie table, Fox may cave on this.

 

[SilentBull]

I'm not sure either but I think I like this approach. Not participating at all may help in the perception that the media is picking the candidates versus accepting it and joining the kids at the other debate. I'd rather see him attack fox for doing this, so I think I do prefer this.

 

[thoughtomator]

Hopefully this experience will convince the party and candidates that it is NOT in their interests to let media groups organize party debates. Then again, if the Candy Crowley experience didn't convince them of that, it is possible nothing will.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

Tricky situation.

 

[limequat]

Wow. I think Rand knows something we don't. Either that or he's just willing to gamble on this.

 

[moraha]

Wow. I think Rand knows something we don't. Either that or he's just willing to gamble on this.

What do you mean by that?

 

[Mr.NoSmile]

Won't participate? Not like the network is going to beg and plead for him to take part since this is ultimately his decision. This comes off a tad petty in my opinion. I mean, Christie was bumped down to an undercard debate and he bounced back just fine.

 

[limequat]

What do you mean by that?

Like maybe his internal polling shows that he's really a shoe-in for this debate. Or maybe the campaign knows people at Fox and this has already been settled. It just doesn't seem like Rand to throw out "red lines" unless he knows what he's doing.

 

[dannno]

I mean, Christie was bumped down to an undercard debate and he bounced back just fine.

Rand said it is too late in the cycle.

 

[Crashland]

A bold statement, I'm not sure how I feel about it either. It won't look good if the other candidates are happy to debate in the undercard and Rand throws a fit instead of participating. It's not like the network is just arbitrarily choosing candidates - they lay out well in advance what the criteria is. Let's just hope he qualifies without the network having to bend the rules again...

 

[TER]

I like this from Rand. We already know the media is not going to give this election to him. He has to take it from them.

 

[derek4ever]

Is there a deal involved? Hope rand does make it to the major debate because he's been quite on fire with his points. Or maybe it's just to fire up the base for the upcoming events!

 

[jkob]

So what is the plan? Rand can't afford to sit out a debate even an undercard one, he may as well drop out if that's what he wants. I don't think the media is too worried about Rand's threat, probably thinking he is easier to get rid of then they thought.

 

[William Tell]

Probably the best decision he could make, although there is no good option. Being at the kids table is humiliating.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

A bold statement, I'm not sure how I feel about it either. It won't look good if the other candidates are happy to debate in the undercard and Rand throws a fit instead of participating.

Yeah, there is a lot of potential for this to backfire.

It's not like the network is just arbitrarily choosing candidates - they lay out well in advance what the criteria is. Let's just hope he qualifies without the network having to bend the rules again...

Not really. They just released the criteria. This gives them ample leeway for manipulation.

If they set the criteria for all of the debates at the same time, months in advance, then it could be considered more unbiased.

 

[Kords21]

Not sure if you can really call it a debate since the only disagreement outside of Rand's posistions is on who can bomb ISIS more.

 

[Rede]

Not opposed to rejecting the premise that his campaign is not a first tier campaign or a willingness to fight with the media.

I think Rand has been looking for opportunities to "mix it up" because it gets coverage and counteracts an impression that he is weak because he doesn't want to send the military everywhere.

As for not being in the undercard debate - I don't think he would be missing out on much. No point in being in a debate where you can only "punch down".

 

[jmdrake]

Like maybe his internal polling shows that he's really a shoe-in for this debate. Or maybe the campaign knows people at Fox and this has already been settled. It just doesn't seem like Rand to throw out "red lines" unless he knows what he's doing.

Or maybe he's decided that the pathetic coverage of the undercard debate isn't worth the psychological damage of participating in it.