Chris Christie Dropped to JV Debate on Tuesday
Republican presidential candidates, from left, John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, and Rand Paul take the stage during the CNBC Republican presidential debate at the University of Colorado, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015, in Boulder, Colo.
Earlier this week, we told you Chris Christie‘s sagging polling numbers could mean he’d be dropped from the main GOP debate on Tuesday. But we left it on an up-beat note: Christie’s speech about drug addiction went viral, and he was up to 3 percent in a recent poll. It still didn’t seem like Christie will be our next president, or even the GOP nominee, but it was something.
But whoops! Things went south in a hurry. Along with Mike Huckabee, Christie was cut from the main debate stage. Lou Dobbs — who Philly’s new mayor called an asshole in 2012 — announced last night that the two were cut from the main, prime-time debate next Tuesday on Fox Business Channel.
Fox Business Channel said candidates must have reached 2.5 percent in an average of the four latest national polls in order to qualify for the debate. Christie’s right around that level, but he might’ve been able to qualify depending on which four national polls the channel selected. Real Clear Politics says he’s at 2 percent in an average of the last five polls.
Christie will instead debate Huckabee, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum in the undercard debate late that afternoon. South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham and former New York Gov. George Pataki were left out of the debates entirely.
The New Jersey governor took the offensive immediately after being notified he was out of the debate.
It doesn’t matter the stage, give me a podium and I’ll be there to talk about real issues like this: https://t.co/Fqu5Qi2piX #BringItOn
— Chris Christie (@ChrisChristie) November 6, 2015
That ChristieNe.ws link — clever URL! — is a link to his speech about treating drug addiction, which is the main thing Christie has going for him right now. (It is actually a powerful speech.) The reference to #BringItOn is Christie attempting to gain traction by referencing his love for the 2000 Kirsten Dunst vehicle Bring It On, a cult classic. (What’s better, Bring It On: All or Nothing with Solange and Hayden Panettiere or Bring It On: In It to Win It with Ashley Benson? This is a debate question we’d like to see asked of Christie.)
Chris Christie Makes Emotional Plea To Rethink Drug Addiction …“Somehow, if it’s heroin or cocaine or alcohol, we say, ‘They decided it, they’re getting what they deserved.'”(Read more here: http://huff.to/1LQg27g)
Posted by HuffPost Politics on Friday, October 30, 2015
Jindal, on the undercard, and Graham, left out entirely, have called for two prime-time debates, with seven candidates chosen at random. “In the end, the biggest loser tonight is the American people and the Republican presidential primary process that has been hijacked by news outlets,” a spokesman for Graham told The New York Times.
Even the drug treatment storyline is not perfect: The Inquirer’s Amy Rosenberg writes today of a drug treatment center in Atlantic City. This is what Christie’s pushing for, only this one is on the brink of closing.
But perhaps not all is lost for Christie. FiveThirtyEight has a report today saying a Christian conservative win in Iowa — it happened in 2004 and 2008, and Ben Carson currently leads polls — could lead to a more moderate candidate like Christie winning in New Hampshire. Maybe? But he’s still around two percent and voting starts February 1st. He has an uphill battle.
Follow @dhm on Twitter.