New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Wednesday that there has to be some sort of limit on the number of GOP presidential candidates allowed on the upcoming debate stage and predicted that, if he were to run, he probably wouldn’t have to make difficult spending decisions to ensure he made the cut.
“I think you’ve got to have some some sense of limit on it, because then no one will get a chance to speak if you have too many people up there,” Mr. Christie said on “Fox and Friends.” “But if you’re not in the top 10, of course, I’m sure you wouldn’t be.”
The first official GOP debate, to take place in August in Cleveland, will feature the candidates in the top 10 in recent public polling. Mr. Christie is currently eighth in RealClearPolitics’ average of recent public polling on the prospective 2016 GOP field.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who also appears to be in position to make the cut at this point, has nevertheless raised concerns about the formatting.
Asked whether he will spend to make sure he’s in the top 10 if he decides to run, Mr. Christie said: “I think everybody has to decide how important it is to be in that debate, and I think it is important.”
“And so I’m sure some people will have to make that decision. I don’t think if we ran we’d have to make that kind of decision in terms of spending, but [the] fact is, some others might, and if they do, we’ll see how that affects the race,” he said.
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Mr. Christie said he’ll make a decision next month on whether or not he’ll run for president in 2016.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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