Politico's Roger Simon joins the fun of sorting out just what the cable networks will do to accommodate the swelling horde of eventual losers:
The CNN folks … have gotten crafty and decided to have two groupings of debates, one for the "smart" candidates and one for the "slow" candidates. That’s my interpretation anyway. The official CNN criteria are just this side of gibberish.
"The first 10 candidates — ranked from highest to lowest in polling order from an average of all qualifying polls released between July 16 and September 10 who satisfy the criteria requirements … will be invited to participate in 'Segment B' of the September 16, 2015 Republican Presidential Primary Debate," says the network. "Candidates who satisfy the criteria and achieve an average of at least 1 percent in three national polls, but are not ranked in the top 10 of polling order will be invited to participate in 'Segment A' of the September 16, 2015 Republican Presidential Primary Debate."
Have you got that? Really? Keep in mind we are dealing with some candidates who think the Earth was created less than 10,000 years ago and that icebergs are being destroyed by too many polar bears trying to crowd on top of them. You think they are going to figure out this formula?
I once had an undergraduate professor who believed that any student who could triumph over the university's ungodly, we-dare-you bureaucratic enrollment process deserved at least 3 credit hours for that act alone. Perhaps any GOP candidate who can comprehend the networks' debate-selection rules should be allowed an additional percentage in his or her polling. They can also be allowed to remove their shoes, for arithmetical assistance, if their points already exceed 10.