Debate Rules Changed to Include Carly Fiorina

The public wants more Carly. 

When they found out Carly Fiorina wasn’t scheduled to appear in the upcoming CNN debate, 14 South Carolina officials sent a public letter to CNN’s Jeff Zucker demanding he include the former Hewlett-Packard CEO. 

“Mrs. Fiorina has earned the right to be on the main stage of the CNN debate. Her win at the Fox News ‘undercard’ debate and her rise in the polls show her to be quite capable and well-ranked,” said Shannon Ericson of the South Carolina House of Representatives. “The citizens we represent, those who will participate in South Carolina’s First in the South Primary, deserve the opportunity to assess all of the true contenders in this race. We write today to urge CNN to include her in the September 16th main stage debate.”

Support for Carly has done nothing but rise since her astonishing performance in the first GOP debate. In fact, recent polls show her climbing to third place in Iowa and New Hampshire. Excluding Fiorina from the debate “is not in the best interests of an informed electorate,” reads the letter. “CNN’s viewers … are an essential part of that electorate.” 

Federal Election Commission rules state that criteria for a debate can’t be changed after being made public. Even so, CNN made the following announcement yesterday: “CNN reevaluated its criteria and decided to add a provision that better reflects the state of the race since the first Republican presidential debate in August. Now, any candidate who ranks in the top 10 in polling between August 6th and September 10th will be included.”

Former rules would have admitted the top ten candidates based on an average of poll results between July 16th and September 10th. 

“We are very pleased that CNN changed its mind,” said John Heubusch of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. “We’ve been hearing from people across the country. They want to see the best debate possible.” I agree that Fiorina’s presence is sure to make the evening more interesting. 

The CNN mainstage debate will take place September 16th at the Reagan Library. Many are looking to Carly as the only candidate with enough skill to take on Donald Trump.