Debate exclusion

Fiorina: My debate exclusion is an insult to voters

By Eliza Collins

The fact that she won't be on the stage during Saturday’s GOP debate is an insult to voters, Carly Fiorina said on Friday.

“The people who should be frustrated, actually more than frustrated, are the people of Iowa and New Hampshire,” the former Hewlett-Packard CEO said on “Morning Joe” when asked if she was "frustrated" by her exclusion.

What message would it send, she asked, that she was not included despite getting more delegates than New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich and tying with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. (Fiorina's nationwide RealClearPolitics average is 2 percentage points — the lowest of the remaining candidates.)

A variety of notable Republicans, including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, have lobbied debate host ABC News on her behalf, but Fiorina noted that other GOP presidential candidates hadn't spoken up.

On "Fox & Friends" on Friday, Trump was asked if he thought she should be allowed on stage. "That would be OK with me," he responded.

“The rest of them were silent, maybe they're afraid to debate me,” Fiorina said, alleging that certain unnamed candidates had “lobbied hard” to keep her off the stage.

Perhaps, she said, some were even hoping to prevent her from debating Hillary Clinton in the fall.

Fiorina pressed her case on Facebook later in the morning, casting her exclusion as another example of a "rigged" game.

"This isn't about me. It's about you. It's about the people of New Hampshire who are about to vote," she wrote. "This is emblematic of the power that is being taken away from you every day--by the political class, the media establishment, and the bureaucracy. They don't want your votes to count. They don't want your voice to be heard. The network of George Stephanopoulos wants to tell you to sit down and shut up and elect Hillary Clinton."

Strictly by the network's criteria, however, Fiorina has little case to make: She didn't place among the top three in Iowa, nor the top six in national polls, nor the top six in New Hampshire.