Very few people may be aware of the fact that the first presidential debate of the primary season is actually scheduled to take place in just one week on May 5th.
The reason very few people are aware of this is because even the host of the debate, Fox News, isn't entirely sure who among the current candidates, or those who are pretending to be candidates, will be in attendance.
Though Fox News and the South Carolina Republican Party are touting next week's Republican presidential debate as the kickoff to election season, it's unclear if any of the GOP's major candidates will actually be in attendance — or any candidates at all.
The problem isn't a snub of the channel, it's the rules for participation in the debate. The cast of characters rumored to be mulling a run for the Republican nomination is long, but only a few have formed an official exploratory committee, which is one of the requirements Fox News set for the event. So far, only Rep. Ron Paul, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Senator Rick Santorum have formed exploratory committees. [...]
The requirements for participation, according to a joint press release from Fox News and the South Carolina Republican Party, include formation of an exploratory committee, filing paperwork and paying fees to the South Carolina Republican Party and garnering at least 1 percent support in five national polls, among other bulletpoints.
In addition to the sparse number of candidates with exploratory committees, The Spartanburg Herald Journal pointed out, as of late last week no candidates had paid filing fees in South Carolina.
Apparently President Obama doesn't pose such a grave danger to the nation after all. If he did, wouldn't the slate of officially declared candidates be longer than four names? Shouldn't one bold and courageous candidate after another be lining up down the street, and around the block, to meet the threat of our secret-Muslim, socialist president?