the republican debate that is taking place just 12 days before the iowa caucus will feature only two candidates. cnn announced florida governor ron desantis and former u.s. ambassador nikki haley and former president trump made the cut, but trump is going to skip the debate of course, opting instead to buy dissipate and a town hall with fox news the same evening. willie? joining us now in the studio, publican presidential candidate former governor the great state new jersey chris christie. governor, good to see. you get to see, you. happy new year you miss the polling threshold on the debate stage for next week. when your plans for that? night i, off i haven t spent one day or $1 in iowa, and so the fact that he did make the polling for that is not something i was ever trying to do in iowa. so that s fine, the key will be at the debate that night, and given the fact that donald trump is not going to do a town hall on fox news, i don t know
new jersey governor, republican presidential candidate, chris christie. you missed the polling quota, so what are your plans for that night? to make the polling threshold was not something i could do in iowa. that s fine. nikki and ron can debate that night. i don t even know who s going to be watching nikki and ron in that debate, but i hope some people are, because i think that they ll get a real sense of the fact twhoot of them are living in an alternate universe. they ll debate each other, as if the contest is between the two of them and my guess is neither one of them will spend five minutes bringing up donald trump, because they re both playing for 2028, or a vice presidential nomination in nikki s case for donald trump. so i don t think it will be worth watching. you ve heard all of this talk within the republican party that it needs to be a two-person
strategy. we re going to bring you brand new reporting from inside the campaign. i m dana bash. let s go behind the headlines and inside politics. we start today with breaking news on who qualified for cnn s iowa debate next week. last before the caucuses. the deadline to meet the polling threshold just passed, and our political director david chalian joins me now. david, who made the cut? as you noted, the deadline just passed and actually the window of qualification started way back on october 15th. we now know that for the cnn january 10th debate, the three candidates who have qualified are former president trump, nikki haley and ron desantis. we also know that donald trump has not participated in any debate yet this cycle, and he
second republican debate hosted by foxbusiness at the ronald reagan presidential library in california break two candidates who made wednesday s debate former governor asa hutchinson governor doug bergen has met the art and see new polling threshold to qualify. both said earlier today on fox news they are confident they will make the cut. we have almost got our donor limit already. and so then it is a question of making sure the right place in the polls. it is up to your listeners and we have got some help i think we will be able to continue and be there in the debate engage in it and catch momentum. of more days between now when the voting starts then we ll them will meetlaunched on june . we know we are just gaining momentum. i have been in new hampshire we have done so many events the last two days here we know our message around the economy, energy, national security is really resonating. will have more 2024 coverage tomorrow former un ambassador nikki haley will be on sunda
smaller, which of course is the point. the republican national committee has raised the thresholds to qualify for next month s event in california. candidates must gather donations from at least 50,000 individual donors and register at least 3% support in the polls. and then of course there s the whole business of that loyalty pledge to support the ultimately nominee whoever they are. as of now it appears six of candidates have already met those qualifications. former arkansas governor asa hutchinson and north dakota governor doug burgham however are feeling the squeeze. bergham says he s met the voter threshold but hasn t hit the polling threshold just yet. hutchinson meanwhile has yet to meet either of those rierlts. donald trump has met the rnc s criteria but he s refused to sign the pledge to accept the eventual nominee. he s also suggested he plans to skip the primary debates, at least a senior advisor says the first two of them. the next debate set for september 22nd at the reaga