At this point, it appears Jim Gilmore won’t be on the stage for the next Republican presidential debate, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Sept. 16 and televised on CNN.
CNN’s criteria for participation in the debate was clear and pretty generous: All a candidate needs is to reach an average of 1 percent or more in three national polls. Gilmore has not registered any support in the Rasmussen, Fox News, or Bloomberg/BusinessWeek national polls. Gilmore has time between now and Sept. 10 to hit that threshold.
Like the Fox News debate, this one will feature the top ten candidates at one time (probably in prime time) and the remaining six at another timeslot, probably earlier in the day. There’s no word yet on whether these candidates will get to enjoy an audience in front of them, something the magnificent seven didn’t get in the “undercard” Cleveland debate.
Some may argue it’s unfair to exclude Gilmore this early; on the other hand, few if any observers came out of the last debate particularly impressed or surprised by him. He entered the race with a strange assertion that no other Republican candidates had addressed “vital national security and economic concerns facing the country.” Perhaps he ignored everything the other candidates have said since day one.
The expansion of the Republican fields in recent years – from ten in 1996 to twelve in 2000 to twelve in 2008 to ten in 2012 to 17 this cycle appears to reflect the declining cost of doing badly and the increasing incentives to just being in the mix for a while. Whether or not any long-shot candidate is willing to admit any personal motive, we’ve seen Mike Huckabee get a weekend show on Fox News, Herman Cain get a nationally-syndicated radio show and numerous other candidates who failed to get the nomination move on to more prominent positions, bigger book deals, higher speaking fees, and so on. If you’re a moderately-known Republican figure, running for president is a great way to become a well-known Republican figure.
It’s a free country, and all of these candidates are free to pursue the opportunities that flow from their moment in the national spotlight. But the Republican presidential primary process is not meant to help out aspiring conservative media stars or folks who want a television contract. We’re supposed to be picking a commander-in-chief here.
The one percent threshold is pretty fair, and ought to discourage every Tom, Dick and Harry from jumping in just to see what happens.