The lineup for next week's GOP debate has been announced. Based on criteria dealing with minimum poll numbers in the most recent four national polls, Politico reports Pataki, Gilmore and Graham won't get to participate at all, not even in the undercard.
The larger news is that Christie and Huckabee get bumped from the main stage down to that undercard. Both failed to meet the 2.5 percent average-over-four-polls cutoff.
Remaining on the main stage are these eight: Trump, Carson, Cruz, Rubio, Fiorina, Paul, Bush, and Kasich. They all met the 2.5 percent cutoff.
I ask myself who among that last eight I would actually vote for happily, knowing what I now know. I answer only two: Cruz and Fiorina.
How many more could I vote for as the lesser of two evils where Clinton represented the other evil? Trump, for sure, the others would require soul-searching I'm unwilling to contemplate at this juncture.
I'm reasonable certain there are people on the list who, if nominated, could cause me to vote for neither major party candidate. For a variety of reasons, I have a hard time contemplating a President Kasich, Carson or Paul. I don't trust Rubio or Bush on immigration, they'd be better-than-Clinton on other issues.
