As CNN officially extended invitations to a series of big name Republicans for the next GOP debate, one of the lower level GOP hopefuls was left out because of low poll numbers, reducing the number of Republican candidates to 16 for this debate.
Not on the list was ex-Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, who was in the first GOP debate last week in Cleveland.
"Candidates must achieve an average of at least 1% of support in three recognized national polls before September 10 to be included in the debate," CNN noted on Tuesday in a release.
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
At last week's debate in Cleveland, Gilmore did not attract much news coverage during the debate - or after it.
At one point, I saw him standing alone in the "spin room" area, with no reporters asking for his opinion on anything.
If Gilmore cannot find a bump in the polls over the next few weeks, then the main part of the GOP field would be reduced to 16 candidates.
The news of his departure was met more with scorn and sarcasm on social media than anything else; and some voters clearly didn't even know he was on the first pre-debate debate panel in Cleveland last week.
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
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