CNN Announces Criteria for Next Republican Debate

CNN has announced the new debate criteria for the network’s Dec. 15 Republican debate.

The new criteria would currently leave nine candidates on the main stage, with any candidate who polls either at 3.5% nationally, 4% in Iowa or 4% in New Hampshire on average between Oct. 29 and Dec. 13 eligible to participate. CNN will average polling results from a variety of sources to determine each candidate’s popularity.

As of Friday, those rules would put the following candidates in the debate, according to CNN: Donald Trump, Dr. Ben Carson, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Carly Fiorina and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. An undercard debate for candidates who don’t meet the criteria for the main stage will also be hosted by CNN, Facebook and Salem Media.

The December debate will be held at The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas, and will be moderated by CNN news anchor Wolf Blitzer, with CNN correspondent Dana Bash and talk radio host Hugh Hewitt serving as questioners.

[CNN]