Lowering expectations ahead of a debate is a time-honored political tradition, but it's a complicated one for this giant, messy Republican field as their first debate approaches.
The roster isn't even set for the top-tier debate,
changing the expectations-setting game for some candidates. And for candidates who are pretty well assured of making varsity, there's the Trump problem.
In the definitely stuck in the JV debate category, you've got Rick Santorum. The 2012 Republican runner-up is virtually certain to be locked out of the big show, so he's going around talking about how the debate qualification rules are "pretty arbitrary" and based on an "irrelevant measure of legitimacy." (Sure, Rick. National polls are of questionable value, but you're not in the top 10 in Iowa, either, and you won there in 2012.) Then there are those who aren't sure which debate they'll be in and are trying to hedge their bets:
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, another GOP candidate who might not make the cut, also said the debate wasn’t a fate-setter. “This is not a one-shot pony here,” he said on Fox News Sunday. “We’ve got a full campaign in front of us.” [...]
GOP contender New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who could be forced into the ancillary debate, also said Mr. Trump’s lead could start to erode if he’s forced to provide more details on his policy agenda.
“Anybody can do well for a month in this business,” said Mr. Christie on CNN.
And, of course, there's the "oh, crap, I'm gonna have to deal with Trump" crowd:
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, another GOP presidential candidate, said Mr. Trump’s campaign had so far been able to exploit frustration among conservative voters, but the debate would challenge what has so far been a lot of “empty talk” from the front-runner.
Yeah, empty talk. Unlike extremely substantive
chainsaw attacks on the tax code. And that empty talk has Trump well ahead of Paul in the polls, so ... what exactly is Paul saying about Republican voters?
Daily Kos Elections is keeping track of the polls as the debate cutoff date approaches, so you can have the latest and best guess as to who's in and who's out.