CNN confirms 11 candidates in primetime Sept. 16 debate

CNN has completed the polling analysis and confirmed that eleven candidates will share the main debate stage next Wednesday at the Reagan Library Republican Debate. The additional candidate, of coruse, is Carly Fiorina who made it onto the main stage after an addendum to the rules used by CNN to determine the top ten candidates.

Essentially the lineups will be identical to the Fox News debate with the exception of Carly Fiorina who has graduated to the “adults” table in primetime.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015, on CNN

8pm ET / 5pm PT “Second Round Debate”
Trump, Bush, Walker, Cruz, Paul, Rubio, Carson, Huckabee, Christie, Kasich, Fiorina

6pm ET / 3pm PT “First Round Debate”
Perry, Jindal, Graham, Santorum, Pataki (Perry dropped out 9/11/15)

Here is the podium placement, as decided by the polls, which once again places Donald Trump at center stage:

Report from Fox News:

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

The candidates scheduled to meet for Wednesday’s primetime 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 GOP officials eager to feature the party’s only 2016 female candidate in the nationally televised clash.

But don’t expect Fiorina 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 Simi Valley, California. The undisputed leader in national polls, Trump is generally considered the biggest reason why Fox News Channel reached 24 million people for the first GOP presidential debate last month — the most watched program in Fox News history.

The good news, for the eleven candidates, is that the main debate will span three hours from 8pm to 11pm ET. That will give more time for questioning compared to the two hours allotted by Fox News on August 6.