Christie, Huckabee on undercard for next GOP debate

Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee have been bumped from the main stage at next week's GOP presidential debate, while George Pataki and Lindsey Graham have been cut from the lineup altogether.

Debate sponsor Fox Business Network announced the moves Thursday evening, dealing a major blow to all four candidates, particularly Christie, the New Jersey governor, and Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, as they struggled to stand out in the crowded Republican field.

To qualify for the main debate, Fox Business said a candidate needed to have an average of at least 2.5 percent support in the four most recent major polls. Those taking part in the undercard debate needed at least 1 percent in any of those four polls.

The decision underscores concerns about the pivotal role that national opinion surveys have been playing in shaping the contest for the GOP nomination. Statistically, pollsters say, there is no significant difference between candidates lumped together near the bottom of the pack in national polls, which often have a margin of error of 3 percentage points or more.

"I tell people, `Ignore the national polls and just follow those early states,"' said Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who argues that early opinion surveys are notoriously unreliable. "Except that now national polls drive the debates, and debates drive the polling."

Steve Duprey, chairman of the Republican National Committee's debate subcommittee, has been frustrated that debate criteria used by TV networks have ignored candidates' standing in early-voting states where they spend most of their time.

"It's been unfortunate," said Duprey, a Republican national committeeman from New Hampshire. "When you do debates based on national polls, it undermines the ability of a lesser-known, lesser-funded candidate to get traction."

As a result of the new standards, the prime-time affair will feature eight candidates — the smallest lineup so far. Ten candidates participated in the party's opening primetime debate in August.

The prime-time lineup: businessman Donald Trump, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former technology executive Carly Fiorina, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. The undercard event features just four candidates: Christie, Huckabee, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Pataki, the former New York governor, and Graham, a South Carolina senator, already faced a tough road to the GOP nomination. Their omission from the undercard debates will make it even harder for them to convince voters — and donors — that they have a viable path to the nomination.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry provides a cautionary tale of the potential impact. Fundraising dollars dried up after Perry was relegated to the undercard debate earlier in the year.

The two-hour prime-debate in Milwaukee will air at 9 p.m. EST preceded by the undercard debate at 6 p.m. EST. After next week's face-offs, just two debates remain before the opening primary contest in Iowa.

Wire services