C-SPAN has plans to host a forum that is open to all of the Republican candidates for president just days before a Fox News debate that will include the top 10 candidates.
In protest to Fox's decision to invite only 10 of the GOP candidates for president (there are 15 confirmed), a group of newspaper publishers from the New Hampshire Union Leader, the South Carolina Post and Courier, and the Iowa Gazette will co-host the Voters First Forum in New Hampshire on Aug. 3,
reports The Hill.
"Fox says only the 'top' 10 candidates, as judged solely by national polling, will be allowed on its stage," the group said in a statement, according to The Hill. "That may be understandable later, but the first votes are half a year away and there are a lot more than 10 viable candidates.
"The early primary process gives all candidates a chance to be heard. If networks and national polls are to decide this now, the early state process is in jeopardy and only big money and big names will compete."
The Fox debate is scheduled for Aug. 6. Critics of the Fox decision to cap the number of candidates say it gives an unfair advantage to the 10 candidates who will actually be there.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, for example, said this week the debate format could influence the outcome of the primary next year.
Carly Fiorina, a former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, is the only woman in the crowded field of candidates and could be left off the invitation list for the Fox debate. She is well behind most of the other candidates in
national polls.
According to The Hill, the GOP candidates confirmed for the C-SPAN include Fiorina, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, and former New York Gov. George Pataki.
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