--- title: Republican Debate: Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina At Risk description: Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina have something more to lose in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary: their slot in the next GOP debate canonical: https://time.com/4214206/south-carolina-debate-criteria-christie-fiorina/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-09T20:01:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:41:07.699Z article:section: Politics og:title: Christie, Fiorina Might Not Make Next Debate og:description: Unless they do well in New Hampshire. og:url: https://time.com/4214206/south-carolina-debate-criteria-christie-fiorina/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b66399de1735079/69887cd22dce010ce79e7bbd/chris-christie-carly-fiorina.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Campaign signs supporting Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, and Carly Fiorina, former chairman and chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard Co. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, stand along a r og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Christie, Fiorina Might Not Make Next Debate twitter:description: Unless they do well in New Hampshire. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b66399de1735079/69887cd22dce010ce79e7bbd/chris-christie-carly-fiorina.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Christie, Fiorina Might Not Make Next Debate After New Hampshire Results > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=f5d9a005-d8f0-40e9-a9f6-af194448d87e&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 12 Hours on the Campaign Trail [Watch (HLS stream): 12 Hours on the Campaign Trail](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WQuMJswt.m3u8) (3:58)  _Published 2016-02-07. Across New Hampshire, candidates are engaging in the kind of retail politics that is only possible in a small state: attending luncheons and speaking at town halls, shaking voters’ hands in restaurants, and taking hundreds of selfies._  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 9, 2016 8:01 PM UTC Across New Hampshire, candidates are engaging in the kind of retail politics that is only possible in a small state: attending luncheons and speaking at town halls, shaking voters’ hands in restaurants, and taking hundreds of selfies.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 9, 2016 8:01 PM UTC Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina have something more to lose in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary: their slot in the next GOP debate. According to [criteria that CBS News announced](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/criteria-for-cbs-news-republican-debate/) Tuesday, candidates eligible for inclusion in Saturday’s South Carolina debate will need to have either been in the top three in the Iowa Republican caucuses, place among the top five candidates in an average of recent national and South Carolina Republican polls or finish in the top five in the New Hampshire Republican primary. Both Fiorina and Christie are unlikely to meet the first two [criteria](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/criteria-for-cbs-news-republican-debate/). Exclusion from the debate could hurt the New Jersey governor’s comeback and serve as a death knell for Fiorina, whose debate performances [previously propelled her campaign](http://time.com/4181856/republican-debate-carly-fiorina-undercard/). But if they can eke out a top-five finish in New Hampshire tonight, they’ll be guaranteed a slot. Fiorina, who was excluded from the last GOP debate in New Hampshire, [fought back against the criteria](http://time.com/4210764/carly-fiorina-abc-debate-video/) used to qualify candidates, arguing that she’d earned a spot based on her previous debate performances and poll numbers. Based on their [performances in Iowa](http://time.com/4203726/iowa-caucus-results-marco-rubio-donald-trump-ted-cruz/), Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio have already qualified for the South Carolina debate. It’s not yet possible to determine who else made the cut because it’s not clear which polls CBS will use to calculate average ranking. But n a [RealClearPolitics average of national polls](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/2016%5Frepublican%5Fpresidential%5Fnomination-3823.html) taken between Jan. 22 and Feb. 4, Trump, Cruz, Rubio, Ben Carson and Jeb Bush made up the top five. In a [RCP average of South Carolina polls](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/sc/south%5Fcarolina%5Frepublican%5Fpresidential%5Fprimary-4151.html) taken between Jan. 15 and Jan. 23, the same five candidates held leading spots. For the remaining presidential hopefuls, the New Hampshire primary will prove pivotal to inclusion in the debate. An [RCP average of New Hampshire polls](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/nh/new%5Fhampshire%5Frepublican%5Fpresidential%5Fprimary-3350.html) shows Trump, Rubio, John Kasich, Cruz and Bush to be leading ahead of the primary. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Theres just a few days left until the primary. So here in New Hampshire all the candidates are hosting events 30 minutes, maybe 10, 15 minutes away from each other Throughout the day. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Okay. Kind of crazy stairs. The camera lady should be careful. Ask yourselves this. How many presidential elections have you heard the same things? We're gonna secure the border. We've been talking about that for 25 years, folks. We're gonna reform the tax code. We're gonna reform social security. We're gonna care for our veterans. Has any of that happened in the last 40 years? No. When we began our campaign, there were a lot of media pundits who were commenting on my hair. [ LAUGH ] [ INAUDIBLE ] A lot has changed in the last nine months. Is it fair that we have more income and wealth inequality than any major country on Earth today? Why is that? [ APPLAUSE ] [ INAUDIBLE ] [ INAUDIBLE ] [ APPLAUSE ] Sometimes run into people who say I'm trying to make up my mind between you and Senator Sanders. Sometimes they have a specific question, but sometimes they said, well, it's kinda between my heart and my head. I said, well I can solve that for you. What motivates me everyday is what's in my heart. [ APPLAUSE ] I wanna say a word to the extraordinary People particularly young people who are supporting Senator Sanders. I know you may not be for me now, but I am for you and I << will work hard. [ MUSIC ] [ CROSSTALK ] Whoo. Whoo. [ UNKNOWN ] How are you? Good to see you [ UNKNOWN ]. Good to see you. [ CROSSTALK ] We really wanted to come by cause [ UNKNOWN ] was the place where we kicked off our campaign in June. On the day that we announced we left New Jersey came right to New Hampshire and did our first town hall meeting. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Thank you. You enjoyed it up here right? Yes we did. We just left the Christi event and it only lasted 15 minutes. It was definitely the shortest event of the day. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Over and over again, when we face impossible odds, the American people rose to the challenge. Everyone's here tonight because we recognize our country's in crisis. We're bankrupting our kids and grandkids. Our Constitutional rights are under assault each and every day. And America has receded from leadership in the world and it has made the world a much more dangerous place. The stakes in this election could not be higher. [ NOISE ] If we wake up on, what is it, the first Wednesday in November, maybe it's the second Wednesday in November, to the news that Bernie Sanders is the president of the United States. Or to the news that Hilary Clinton is the president of the United States. [ NOISE ] You like her less than Bernie. [ LAUGH ] If you nominate me, I will unify this party. We can't win unless we're together and the Democrats would love nothing more than to have us fighting against each other for the next six months. I will unify the conservative movement, if I'm our nominee. [ APPLAUSE ]. [ MUSIC ]. Take care buddy. 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