Changes debate

CNN changes debate criteria, clearing path for Fiorina

By Hadas Gold and Steven Shepard

CNN announced on Tuesday that it has changed the criteria for its upcoming debate, making space for Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina on the primetime stage.

Fiorina had argued for weeks that CNN's debate criteria unfairly weighted early field leaders over those who have polled better since the Fox News debate on Aug. 6.

According to CNN, any candidate who ranks in the top 10 between Aug. 6 and Sept. 10 will be included in the primetime debate on Sept. 16.

Still, CNN warned in an announcement that final podium placements won't be known until Sept. 10, after all national polls have come in.

"In the event that any candidate is polling in the top 10 in an average of approved national polls released between August 7th and September 10th, we will add those candidates to our top tier debate, even if those candidates did not poll in the top 10 in an average of approved national polls between July 16th and September 10th," CNN said in a statement. "We have discussed these changes with the Republican National Committee and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, and they are fully supportive."

Despite weeks of statements claiming that there would be no change, CNN said they decided to change the criteria after learning that there would likely only be two more polls conducted before the Sept. 10 deadline.

The new format was announced in a conference call with representatives from all Republican campaigns on Tuesday afternoon.

"We learned this week that there will likely be only two more polls by the deadline of September 10th. In a world where we expected there to be at least 15 national polls, based on historic precedent, it appears there will be only five. As a result, we now believe we should adjust the criteria to ensure the next debate best reflects the most current state of the national race," the CNN statement continued.

According to a POLITICO calculation, in the three polls conducted since the first debate on Aug. 6, Fiorina is in seventh place, with an average of 5 percent.

CNN says they expect just two additional national polls will be released between now and the Sept. 10 deadline, making it difficult for Fiorina to fall out of the additional, post-debate top 10. (If Fiorina was at only 2 percent in the two forthcoming polls, she would still be in ninth place in this subsequent average.)

Fiorina was in the earlier "happy hour" debate during last month's Fox News debate, and delivered a standout performance that has fueled her bid to make it onto the primetime stage next time around. The CNN debate will similarly be split into two sessions, with a 6 p.m. undercard debate, and a 9 p.m. main show.

On Twitter, Fiorina's deputy campaign manager Sarah Isgur-Flores hailed the change, which the Fiorina camp had been pushing for weeks.

“We’re so grateful to the thousands of supporters and conservative activists around the country… who weren’t afraid to take on the political establishment and challenge the status quo to make this happen…We look forward to watching @CarlyFiorina debate the other front runners at the Reagan Library,” she tweeted.

Those on the call described the shift as a last-minute decision. In addition to the new criteria, campaigns were told that further decisions about format, such as opening and closing statements, will be made next week, according to a source who was on the call. Many campaigns on the call asked about tickets and credentials, since the debate will be held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, which has a much smaller capacity than the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. At the moment, each campaign is limited to seven tickets per candidate.