Rules released for August 11th Fox News GOP debate

Fox News and the Iowa Republican Party have released the set of rules that will govern which candidates will be invited to participate in the August 11th debate from Ames, Iowa.

Report from the Des Moines Register:

All nine candidates on the straw poll ballot should automatically be invited to participate in the nationally-televised Republican debate that will be held in Iowa on Aug. 11, party leaders say.

The candidates listed on the ballot for the Aug. 13 straw poll are: Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Thaddeus McCotter, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.

The Iowa Republican Party’s state central committee voted unanimously today to approve to that rule, and three other rules developed jointly with Fox News Channel.

Candidates must satisfy the following by 4 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, Aug. 9:

1. Registered with the Federal Elections Commission as a presidential exploratory committee or presidential campaign

2. Meet all U.S. Constitutional requirements

3. Garnered at least an average of one percent in five national polls based on most recent polling leading up to the registration day.

The debate will begin at 8 pm CST on Thursday, Aug. 11 at Stevens Auditorium on the Iowa State University campus.

Tickets are not for sale but will be given to supporters and those who sponsor a pre-debate reception, a party spokesman said.

For more information, contact Matt Groenwald at the Republican Party of Iowa at (515) 282-8105.

In theory we could have 9 candidates on stage which will be a very crowded group for a 2 hour broadcast. If you divide out the time of 120 minutes by 9 candidates, minus commercials, there isn’t much more than 11 or 12 minutes per candidate tops. Of course, I’m assuming as with most debates, the time will be eaten up by the purported front runners. We will see how the debate moderators manage this large group and try to present each candidate to the viewing audience.