With less than four months until the first vote on the Republican presidential nominating calendar, Fox News’ Dana Perino predicts Wednesday’s second Republican primary debate will be a “moment of decisiveness.”
Perino will co-moderate the debate, along with Fox Business’s Stuart Barney and UNIVISION’s Ilia Calderon, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
“Everyone gets an introduction, a little bit of biography, a full opening statement,” said longtime Republican consultant David Kochel, referring to last month’s first debate hosted by Fox News in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Please do so.”
“The second debate is about trajectory and who can really sustain the momentum,” said Kochel, a veteran of numerous Republican presidential campaigns.
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Republican presidential candidates take the stage during the first Republican nomination debate at the FISERV Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 23, 2023. (Fox News)
“The first debate was the first time for most of the candidates,” said Dave Carney, another longtime Republican strategist and presidential campaign veteran.
“I think this debate will be mostly a caged battle because the candidates will need to differentiate themselves,” Carney predicted. “You can’t have seven or eight people dancing like this all the way through the primaries. So someone has to step out. It’s high risk, high reward.”
The debate will be televised on FOX Business Network (FBN) and UNIVISION on Wednesdays from 9:00pm to 11:00pm ET.
To qualify for the second debate, each candidate must have at least 50,000 unique donors to their campaign or exploratory committee. This includes her 200 donors in over 20 states. The candidate also reached 3% support in two national polls or 3% in one national poll, leading the Republican presidential nomination calendar in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. It needs to reach 3% in two polls in four states.
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Candidates will also be required to sign a pledge agreeing to support the eventual Republican presidential nominee. They must agree not to participate in any non-RNC-sanctioned debates for the remainder of the 2024 election cycle and consent to data sharing with national party committees.
So far, six of the eight candidates who participated in the first Republican presidential nominating debate last month have already met the RNC’s threshold, according to a Fox News tally.
The candidates who met the RNC’s specific requirements for the 2nd Republican Presidential Debate are: (Fox News)
They are, in alphabetical order, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former ambassador and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, biotech entrepreneur and politician. Commentator Vivek Ramaswamy and Senator Tim. Scott in South Carolina.
Former President Donald Trump met the donation and voting thresholds but did not sign the RNC pledge. Citing his overwhelming lead over his rivals in the nomination race, he did not attend the first debate and did not attend the second debate.
Perino, who served as White House press secretary under then-President George W. ” he emphasized. “Their donors and supporters want them to have moments like that.”
Carney said the candidates “can put some of their rivals to sleep if they can get a good night together and start shaping themselves as candidates to replace Mr. Trump.”
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As the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary (the first two races on the Republican nomination calendar) approach, Republican communicator Ryan Williams, a fellow presidential campaign veteran, spotlights the sense of crisis. .
“The clock is ticking until you get your breakthrough moment and get into the top three with Trump and his two closest rivals. After Iowa and New Hampshire, this is what this race is going to look like, Trump and It’s going to be the other two.”But Trump has a commanding lead at the moment, so there’s a good chance he’ll be defeated, and someone will need to solidify his campaign. ”
Carney said debate viewers were “focused on what’s going to replace Trump. And if there’s no one to replace Trump, he might as well break a sweat.” “I will decline the nomination without any regrets.”
Air Force One Pavilion at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California, where the FOX Business Republican Primary Debate will be held on September 27, 2023. (Photo by Steve Whitaker.)
The Reagan Library is a much smaller venue than the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, the site of the first debate, and the audience is expected to be much smaller, about 700 people, making Wednesday’s showdown more intimate. It creates an atmosphere.
“There will be far fewer participants, so it won’t be as loud of a debate,” Kocher predicted.
With Fox Business hosting the debate, the economy is likely to take center stage.
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“Certainly, the economy is the top issue for all Americans. That’s clear in every poll. And the economy affects everything else,” Perino said. “I have great anxiety [among Americans] Across all kinds of issues, economics is certainly front and center, like a river that flows through it all. ”
But Bernie said, “Nobody wants to hear about the Federal Reserve, earnings per share, the jargon that comes from Wall Street and financial and business news. That doesn’t exist. There is an economy. Deaf,” he said. Along with all other subjects of interest to Americans. ”
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