11 Republicans to share crowded stage, as Fiorina joins next presidential debate

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Republican Presidential candidate Carly Fiorina became the 11th candidate to be allowed into the CNN debate. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:28am, 11 Sep 2015

Eleven Republican presidential candidates have qualified for next week’s televised debate, a slate that features the full diversity of the party’s 2016 class and is believed to be the largest group to share a presidential debate stage in modern American political history.

The candidates scheduled to meet for Wednesday’s evening affair, announced Thursday night by debate host CNN, will include former technology executive Carly Fiorina, whose weak polling numbers kept her out of the first debate. But a bump in the polls and an aggressive lobbying effort persuaded CNN to broaden its participation criteria, a coup for Fiorina and Republican officials eager to feature the party’s only 2016 female candidate in the nationally televised clash.

Fiorina isn’t expected to get as much airtime as Donald Trump, who will be positioned front and center when the candidates meet at the Reagan Presidential Library in California. The undisputed leader of the crowded field in early national polls, Trump is generally considered the biggest reason why Fox News Channel reached 24 million people for the first Republican presidential debate last month — the most watched programme in Fox News history.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has come under fire for his criticism of Carly Fiorina. Photo: AP

But their appearance together will draw added interest after Trump criticised Fiorina’s looks this week, in comments that were widely panned.

Trump was quoted in Rolling Styone magazine on Wednesday as saying of Fiorina: “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that?”