We predicted nine out of the ten participants right, not bad.
So I guess it’s set. Fox News jus announced who would be on the stage for the first Republican Primary Debate this Thursday. And they are…
1) Donald Trump
2) Jeb Bush
3) Scott Walker
4) Mike Huckabee
5) Ben Carson
6) Ted Cruz
7) Marco Rubio
8) Rand Paul
9) Chris Christie
10) John Kasich
First off, the seating for this thing is really interesting. You have the front-runner Trump dead center with Bush and Walker on both of his sides. Sandwiched between them are social conservative favorites Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, and Ted Cruz. It will be interesting to see if traditional party candidates like Bush and Walker can get points off considering there’s so much… let’s call it “personality”, in the middle.
Second, the real questions of who would qualify for this debate came in the last two spots. You may remember in our guide to the GOP debates that we predicted Christie and Rick Perry would get the final spots. Looks like we were off on Perry. John Kasich gets the final spot on the big stage.
As a consolation prize Perry, along with the other GOP rejects runner-ups, get their own 45-minute debate before the actual GOP debate. The B-Team includes…
1) Rick Perry
2) Rick Santorum
3) Bobby Jindal
4) Carly Fiorina
5) Lindsey Graham
6) George Pataki
7) Jim Gilmore
Many called last night’s Voter First Forum – which featured many of the 2016 GOP candidates – the “speed dating” equivalent of a political debate, with each candidate giving their short pitches to a litany of questions. While the “speed dating” format of last night was nice, I think I speak for everyone when I say I’m more excited about the “Eyes Wide Shut orgy style” of debate that will take place on Thursday!
(Photo Credit: Warner Bros, Fox News)