GOP Debate: Rand Paul, Carly Fiorina Dropped From Main Stage (TWEETS)

Seven candidates will be on the stage in Thursday night’s Republican main debate in South Carolina, Fox Business Network announced Monday.

Paul said in an interview on CNN he had declined an invitation by Fox Business to participate in Thursday’s evening earlier debate for low-polling candidates. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R).

It’s rare for a candidate invited to any presidential debate to say no. Paul’s father, former Texas congressman Ron Paul, was denied a spot in a Fox News-hosted New Hampshire debate just days before the 2008 primary – a move his supporters responded to with protests and chants aimed at Fox’s Sean Hannity.

Knowing that, the Paul campaign staged a last minute public relations blitz Monday before the announcement, arguing in a press release that the Kentucky Republican should be included given his standing in recent polls, and he is a “serious contender for the nomination”. “It’s kind of ridiculous to arbitrarily rate the campaigns based on national polling”. “So I think it’s a mistake to try to exclude me from the national debate”, he said.

The undercard debate, meanwhile, will see no more than three candidates, given Paul’s refusal to honor what he sees as “a mistake” by the debate’s sponsor. I’m not gonna let any network or anybody tell me we’re not a first-tier campaign. We’re going directly to Iowa and directly to New Hampshire. “In fact, last week in a national poll, we were one point out of first place”. “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 added. In yesterday’s Marist Iowa poll he was alone in 5th place.

Rand Paul, however, is taking a very different stance, saying he’ll skip the debate.