Ohio Gov. John Kasich will join the first official debate of the Republican 2016 presidential candidates Thursday night in Cleveland as one of 10 candidates on stage, Fox News announced today.
The debate will provide prime-time national exposure to Mr. Kasich and all the candidates after a build-up that has been fueled by the verbal brickbats thrown by Donald Trump and suspense over which candidates would make the cut.
For Mr. Kasich, inclusion in the debate’s main event puts him in the political varsity in his home state, a critical swing state in any presidential contest.
Fox will broadcast the debate live from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
It is the first of nine debates that will be sanctioned by the Republican National Committee.
To narrow a field of 17 candidates, Fox limited its debate to the top-10 finishers in an average of five national opinion polls. Until today, it was not certain that Mr. Kasich would squeak into the group.
Mr. Kasich finished at 2.8 percent in an average of five polls collected by RealClearPolitics.com and published today. That was less than one percentage point higher than former Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
Fox will produce a forum at 5 p.m. on the same day for the candidates who did not make the initial list.
The 10 who will crowd the stage Thursday night, in order of the RealClearPolitics.com are Mr. Trump with 23.2 percent, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, retired physician Ben Carson, Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Mr. Kasich.
Invited to the 5 p.m. panel are Mr. Perry, former Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, South Carolina U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, and former New York Gov. George Pataki.
The Fox debate unofficially kicks off the Republican nomination contest. Actual selection of delegates (the people who nominate the party’s candidate for president) will start in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina in February, and will end with Republican Party delegates officially nominating someone July 18-21, 2016, at the Republican convention in Cleveland.
The nominee selected at that convention will face the Democratic nominee.
Contact Tom Troy at: tomtroy@theblade.com or 419-724-6058 and on Twitter @TomFTroy.
First Published August 4, 2015, 8:58 p.m.
