Ahead of Wednesday night's GOP presidential debate on Fox News — the first to be held for the 2024 election season — Raw Story's editor-in-chief Dave Levinthal sat down with Susan Rose of "A New Morning" to preview what to expect out of the night.
Former President Donald Trump, who has a commanding lead over the rest of the field, is skipping the debate. But that only means the other candidates will be vying harder for a breakout moment, Levinthal explained.
"Donald Trump or no Donald Trump, these candidates are going to have to somehow stand apart from the others on the stage, and from Donald Trump who's not on the stage, that might be a one liner, or a very notable quip that gets that 15 second clip that gets played on television and on online videos time and time again," said Levinthal. One candidate to watch, he added, is Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who "has a very positive message" and "compelling personal story" but has struggled to sell himself, as well as candidates who "just kind of sneaked in" with extremely low polling numbers and almost no name recognition, like former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who could be introducing themselves to millions for the first time.
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Asked whether the debates even still matter at this point, given how wide Trump's polling margin is, Levinthal was emphatic: Yes, they do.
"Even though people may not be tuning in necessarily to the live debates and watching the whole thing and staying up late, they're going to be watching snippets of it, or they're going to be listening to snippets of it on the radio the next morning or watching it on TV, the afternoon after they're definitely going to be hearing about the commentary before, during and after, as well," said Levinthal. Among the candidates looking for that opening will be businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who "is polling quite well and has been ascendant, in some polls to particularly in a couple of early states" and now has "an opportunity ... to introduce himself to an electorate and explain why he's running."
Looking ahead to the next debate in September, said Levinthal, it seems unlikely Trump will participate in that either — but the big question will be whether other lower-rung candidates like Miami Mayor Francis Suarez or political pundit Larry Elder, who didn't make the stage, will be able to qualify next time around, by gaining the required donors and polling, and, if so, what impact they will have on the primary dynamics.
Listen to the whole interview below:
