Trump, Carson demand that next debate be limited to 2 hours

“For us it was imperative that the time be changed to 120 minutes” for the length of the debate, he said. In an interview with the Times, Trump Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski threatened to skip the debate if the criteria aren’t changed.

The campaigns reportedly complained that CNBC, the debate’s host, did not seek necessary input from the campaigns before asserting that candidates had already approved the debate terms.

Trump then reveals he’s a bit disappointed his name wasn’t mentioned more in the debate, as he had a drinking game planned (to take a shot each time his name was spoken).

“She’s got to give everything away ’cause this maniac that was standing on her right is giving everything away, so she’s following, ” he said, adding: “We have to be careful”.

Before the call, the network distributed a memo saying the campaigns had agreed to axe the opening and closing statements, the report said.

Trump and Carson, the GOP’s two controversial front-runners, are insisting that the debate doesn’t run three hours like the last one did.

In response, Brian Steel, a spokesman for CNBC, suggested the network may budge on its criteria, promising to “take the candidates’ views on the format into consideration” going forward.

Trump, who provided live commentary of the debate via Twitter, marveled at how different the gathering of five Democrats had been from the first two Republican showdowns, which were marked by frequent clashes.

Duprey said that since the Reagan library debate, he has spoken with each candidate with exception of Dr. Ben Carson.

“I still think in the end the majority of voters want someone with a conservative message for sure, but a positive message like President Reagan had”, Walker said.

Lewandowski told the Times that it was not him on the conference call as Politico had reported but he did confirm that the campaign was considering the third Republican debate because of CNBC’s proposed format. “We asked everybody what their red line was. It’s an evolving process”.