While Fox News and the Republican National Committee decide just how many from the sprawling field of GOP presidential candidates to allow to participate in the first primary debate, Donald Trump isn't worried he won't make the cut.
"I don't think that will happen," the real estate magnate said in an interview Tuesday with the Washington Examiner media desk. "No. 1, they want people to watch the debate. If I was excluded far fewer people would watch. I get ratings."
His second reason: "I do very well in the polls," he said. "I'm ahead of most candidates before I've even announced. The biggest negative I have is people don't think I'm running. It gets solved by standing up and saying I'm running and filing [the official paperwork]."
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Trump does get ratings. His reality game show "Celebrity Apprentice" on NBC is still a success after 13 seasons. And he has a weekly morning segment on Fox News' "Fox and Friends," which he says is the show's "biggest 15 minutes of the week."
He also does fairly well in national and early voting state polls (when he's included as a potential Republican contender). In a recent national Monmouth University poll of Republican voters, 7 percent of respondents said they would support Trump for the GOP nomination, putting him ahead of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, among others. He came in fifth place out of 13 candidates in a poll of New Hampshire Republican primary voters.
Trump told the Examiner he plans to make a decision on whether to run for president in June. He said any candidate who wants to participate in the first primary debate — it will be hosted by Fox News on Aug. 6 in Cleveland — should have declared their candidacy and filed official paperwork.
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"One of the stipulations is you have to declare your candidacy," He said. "And I'll probably be doing that in the month of June. In other words, I will be making a decision during the month of June. I used to say June or July. Now I'm saying June."
Organizers have yet to announce any official requirements for candidates who want to participate in the first debate. The New York Times on Tuesday, though, reported that the RNC "could ultimately devise some threshold involving polling [numbers], small-dollar fund-raising, the size of a campaign's staff or the number of events held by a candidate."
The mix of requirements would seek to ensure that all "serious" candidates — the ones who have made substantial steps toward a campaign — could participate.
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Trump has hired several political staffers to map out a potential campaign in early voting states, including New Hampshire and South Carolina. (Asked in February if he would be giving up his reality show to run for president, he said, "Yes, it's looking like it.")
Other factors that Trump said should be used to determine which candidates participate in the debate: audience enthusiasm at public speaking engagements.
"It should be staff size, events you've held and I would say the popularity of the events," he said. "I've had by far the biggest crowds. In South Carolina [at the Freedom Summit on Saturday] I got the highest reviews for my speech. I brought them to their feet."
Trump wants in. http://washex.am/1cAanEZ in Washington Examiner's Hangs on LockerDome