Rand Paul May Return To Main Debate Stage

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) may return to the main debate stage stage this Thursday at the Fox News presidential debate.

Paul had been dropped from the South Carolina presidential main debate stage and sent to the undercard debate, which he boycotted. However, according to Politico he may return to the main debate stage:

Fox News has set the same criteria for qualification as last week’s Fox Business debate: The top six candidates in national polls, plus any other candidates in the top five in either Iowa or New Hampshire. Those rankings are determined by averages of the five most recent national polls conducted by live telephone interviewers.

According to POLITICO’s calculations, while Paul is outside the top six nationally, the Kentucky senator is currently tied for fifth place in Iowa with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at an average of 4 percent. Moreover, if another Iowa survey is released prior to Fox’s 5 p.m. deadline, the oldest poll that would drop out of the average is a Loras College poll that has Bush at 6 percent and Paul at 3 percent — making it even easier for Paul stay tied with Bush or leap-frog him.