WASHINGTON 鈥� Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, says that the decision to exclude him from the main stage Republican presidential candidates鈥� debate Thursday night in Charleston, South Carolina, is 鈥渁 mistake鈥� that keeps a 鈥渄ifferent point of view鈥� from reaching voters, and that he鈥檒l host a national online town hall instead of participating in the undercard debate.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a mistake for the Republican Party to want to limit the debate and make it smaller,鈥� Paul told 海角精品黑料 on Thursday morning.
鈥淚f you want to have a bigger political party, you have to have more diverse opinions.鈥�
The senator鈥檚 campaign appealed to the party and to Fox Business News, which is televising the debates, on Wednesday, arguing that a recent Des Moines Register poll put him over the polling threshold for inclusion in the main stage debate, but he was denied.
On 海角精品黑料 Thursday, he claimed that he is virtually alone in his party in the contention that U.S. “intervention in the Middle East has made us less safe, and allowed ISIS to grow.鈥�
He also cited his stands against government surveillance of Americans.
鈥淪o I think it鈥檚 a different point of view, but I think it deserves to be heard, and I think a lot of voters are going to be unhappy that I鈥檝e arbitrarily been excluded from the debate.鈥�
says, “The FBN debate lineup was decided based on the results of national, New Hampshire and Iowa polling. To qualify for the prime-time debate, a candidate had to place in the top six in an average of recent national polls, or in the top five in an average of recent Iowa or New Hampshire polls.”
In addition to the recent Register poll, which he called 鈥渢he most recent and the most recognized poll鈥� in Iowa, Paul cited his $25 million war chest and more than 1,000 precinct captains committed for the Feb. 1 caucus 鈥� more than 60 percent of the statewide total of 1,681.
Instead of accepting a spot in the early debate, Paul said, he鈥檒l go directly to voters by hosting the town hall on his website and social media. It鈥檒l start at 9 p.m. Eastern Thursday, which is when the main stage debate gets underway.
鈥淭here鈥檚 the ability to go outside the mass-market media. 鈥� A lot of people are tuning out, and just tuning in on their computers, so it鈥檚 a mistake to sort of exclude the one candidate who鈥檚 very much embraced by the younger voters, and who can connect with the younger voter,鈥� Paul said.
While Thursday鈥檚 will be the first of the debates without Paul on the main stage, he has lagged in the polls, with the latest , for example, putting him at 4 percent, good for 7th聽place in the 11-candidate race. But he said he hasn鈥檛 thought about when or whether he should drop out.
鈥淲e鈥檇 kind of like to see what the voters have to say,鈥� adding that he doesn鈥檛 consider polls three weeks before the caucus in such a large field very accurate.
鈥淧olling has been way off in caucuses before,鈥� he says.
As an example, he also cited last year鈥檚 governor鈥檚 race in Kentucky, in which Republican Matt Bevin trailed Democrat Jack Conway by five points with a week to go, but won the race by eight points.
鈥淭hirteen points off with one week to go in a two-person race 鈥� we鈥檙e kind of crazy to attribute too much science to polling.鈥�
He claimed his Thursday-night town hall will be more 鈥渟ubstantive鈥� than the televised debates.
鈥淲e think they鈥檒l be lacking in diversity tonight, and whether people quibble over a bunch of nonsense that one man in particular from New York has to say, so be it.鈥�
After the not-so-veiled reference to national GOP front-runner Donald Trump, Paul was asked whether there were any GOP candidates he couldn鈥檛 support if they were to get the nomination ahead of him.
While not going so far as to say he wouldn鈥檛 support the billionaire developer, he said, 鈥淚鈥檓 very worried if our nominee were Donald Trump, that we鈥檇 be wiped out in a landslide.
鈥� … I think that he鈥檚 an angry man who presents a worldview that I think turns off so many people in our country that 鈥� we鈥檙e in danger of becoming a small remnant of a party if Donald Trump were the leader.鈥�
