Trump will take center stage in first Republican debate as big names including Perry, Santorum and Graham fail to make the cut
- IN: Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie and John Kasich
- OUT: Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, Jim Gilmore and George Pataki
- The second-string will have their own debate in Cleveland, four hours before Thursday night's main event
- Big winners include Kasich, the Ohio governor who just entered the race and nosed out both Perry and Santorum, the last Iowa Caucus winner
The lineup card has been filled in for Thursday night's first Republican presidential primary debate, and a handful of big-time politicians will be watching from backstage.
Fox News Channel and Facebook are hosting the event in conjunction with the Ohio Republican Party at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
The top-rated cable news network chose the ten candidates with the best average scores in the five most recent national polls to take part in the prime-time political smackfest.
Billionaire front-runner Donald Trump leads the pack, and will do battle with former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
MODERATOR: Fox News anchor Megyn Kelley will co-moderate Thursday's prime-time debate in Cleveland, Ohio alongside veteran Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Chris Wallace
THE TOP THREE: Donald Trump (left), Jeb Bush (center) and Scott Walker (right) have racked up the biggest polling victories, and were shoe-ins for the Thursday night debate in Cleveland, Ohio
GOLF CLAPS: Former Texas governor Rick Perry and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum will be applauding the top ten from afar on Thursday after they failed to make the cut
But that leaves former Texas governor Rick Perry on the outside looking in, along with former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former tech CEO Carly Fiorina, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore and former New York governor George Pataki.
The second-stringers will meet in their own debate at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, four hours between the main event.
Santorum's failure to make the cut is a stunning turnaround from 2012, when he won the Iowa Caucuses after a recount and went on to finish second in the nomination delegate count, losing to the eventual GOP nominee Mitt Romney.
Perry, too, will feel the sting of being relegated to the consolation event.
He was a front-runner four years ago until his spectacular debate collapse when he couldn't remember which cabinet-level federal agencies he had pledged to shutter from the Oval Office.
And Graham, whose jabs at Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton have made him a crowd-pleaser on the campagn trail, hasn't been able to turn that goodwill into tangible support. His poll numbers have settled at lower than 1 per cent.
SORRY, CARLY! Former tech CEO Carly Fiorina, who has run a lackluster campaign so far, finished near the bottom of the heap and will be relegated to a consolation event four hours before the main debate
BIG WINNER? Ohio Gov. John Kasich snuck under the wire and finished in the tenth-place slot just two weeks after launching his presidential bid
Among the surprising victors is Kasich, who only entered the race on July 21 but governs the Buckeye State and staked his reputation on gaining ground quickly enough to be included in the field for Thursday's event in his state's largest city.
Just two weeks into his campaign, he's found momentum and snuck into the debate in tenth place. Christie came in ninth despite a light travel schedule and questions about his abrasive style.
Fox relied on its own poll, along with surveys from Bloomberg, CBS News, Monmouth University and Quinnipiac University in order to decide the final lineup.
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