The RNC's Primary Debate Musical Chairs

by JASmius



You know what I think they should do - limit the primary debates to governors and consign the remaining several hundred "hopefuls" to the Outer Darkness.  But at least the Republican National Committee is mustering sufficient rubbing brain cells to limit the cut to the top twelve, however they (wrongly) determine them:

A broad consensus is beginning to take hold among Republican party officials that the presidential primary debates shouldn’t include any more than a dozen candidates — despite the fact that there might be as many as nineteen [!!!] declared candidates by the time the primary debates start this August.

Though the precise criteria for debate participation ultimately will be decided by the networks staging them — and party leaders continue to insist nothing has been finalized — there is behind-the-scenes agreement here at the Republican National Committee spring meeting that the first debates should be capped at twelve candidates.

“Our goal is to accommodate as many candidates as possible at the beginning,” said Steve Duprey, the New Hampshire committeeman who chairs the RNC’s 2016 debate committee. “I think there’s consensus to cap it between nine and twelve. And we may not need more than that, depending on how the contest goes. Each of the media partners may have different criteria and they’re going to evolve.”

To borrow a Syndrome quote....



,,,,"When everyone's a Republican presidential candidate....no one will ever be president."

So let's see: Walker, Bush, Kasich, Huckabee, Perry, Christie, and Jindal make seven, unless there are any other GOP governors, past or present, who've sent up smoke signals of which I'm not aware.  That would leave five vacant slots for Senators Cruz, Paul, and Rubio (sops for the Paulnuts and the "WE'VE GOTTA APPEAL TO HISPANICS!!!!" crowds), and probably Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina to check off those "diversity" boxes.

All of which means that five more Republican governors need to get off their schnieds and get into the race in the next three months.  For purity's sake, at least.

Still, in the words of Chief Brody....



...."We're gonna need a bigger stage."