New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee are the first casualties of the winnowing GOP presidential debate field, as Fox Business Network announced Thursday night that they both officially missed the cut for next week’s contest. 
 
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 Christie and Huckabee are the only two candidates who had previously appeared on the main debate stage to get cut by the network, which set a threshold of 2.5 percent in four major polls for the top contest. They’ll instead participate in the undercard debate, a demotion that could serve as a major blow for their campaigns. 
 
 The writing was on the wall for Christie by Wednesday night, when he received 2 percent of the vote in Fox News’s latest poll. Poll watchers noted that Christie’s stagnant numbers in a handful of recent surveys, including the Fox one, made it increasingly unlikely that he’d be able to stay above that threshold. 
 
 Because Fox Business did not release which polls it would use in advance, Christie's fate remained in limbo until the network announced the lineup on “Lou Dobbs Tonight.” 
 
 Most pundits had considered Huckabee, who received 4 percent support in the Fox News poll, in a safer spot. He is a former Fox News host who won the 2008 GOP Iowa caucuses and finished second behind Sen. John McCainJohn Sidney McCainThe Memo: GOP fears damage from Trump’s move on DACA Rescue efforts underway after F-16 crashes in Arizona McCain, Whitehouse urge SCOTUS to affirm Wisconsin gerrymandering decision MORE (R-Ariz.) for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. 
 
 Both Christie and Huckabee barely missed the mark, finishing with 2.25 percent in the four polls considered — those conducted by Fox News, NBC/Wall Street Journal, Quinnipiac University and Investor's Business Daily. If either candidate scored just 1 percentage point higher in any of those polls, they would have made it onto the debate stage. 
 
 Sen. Rand Paul Randal (Rand) Howard PaulPaul calls for bipartisan DACA solution This week: Harvey aid at top of long to-do list as Congress returns Trump, Congress face packed September agenda MORE (R-Ky.) just made it in with an average of exactly 2.5 percent. 
 
 Just an hour before Fox Business was scheduled to announce the lineup, Christie’s campaign announced that he would be on Fox News’s “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren,” presumably to push back against the fears that the debate snub would hurt his presidential bid. 
 
 Despite missing out on the main stage, Christie had received praise in recent weeks for his late-October debate performance as well as deeply personal remarks on drug addiction captured by The Huffington Post. 
 
 Christie tweeted just moments after the announcement with a reference to that Huffington Post video. 
 
 It doesn’t matter the stage, give me a podium and I’ll be there to talk about real issues like this: https://t.co/Fqu5Qi2piX #BringItOn — Chris Christie (@ChrisChristie) November 6, 2015 
 
 Huckabee was also defiant in the face of Fox’s decision. 
 
 “I’m happy to debate anyone, anywhere, anytime,” he said on Twitter. “We are months away from actual votes being cast and neither the pundits nor the press will decide this election, the people will.” 
 
 The main debate stage will include the eight remaining Republican candidates who participated in last month's CNBC debate: Real estate mogul Donald Trump Donald John TrumpSean Spicer to speak at gas industry conference Ex-World Bank president: Congress must crack down on Trump’s trade policies Hillary Clinton to sit down with CBS's Jane Pauley on Sunday MORE, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Sen. Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioRubio: Trump should 'clearly outline' what he wants on DACA Trump issues Florida emergency declaration ahead of Hurricane Irma East Coast watching for chance of Hurricane Irma MORE (Fla.) Sen. Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzNorth Korea fears demand attention despite domestic concerns Cruz: N. Korean test 'serious escalation' of its ability to commit mass murder Sunday shows preview: Trump faces aftermath of Harvey MORE (Texas), former CEO Carly Fiorina, former Gov. Jeb Bush (Fla.), Gov. John Kasich (Ohio) and Paul. 
 
 Huckabee and Christie will join Gov. Bobby Jindal (La.) and former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.) in the undercard debate. Sen. Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin GrahamWeek ahead: Congress returns to take up bipartisan health care effort DACA debate turns toward Congress as Trump readies decision Graham backs Trump ending DACA with 6-month delay MORE (S.C.) and former New York Gov. George Pataki missed qualifying for the undercard because they failed to poll at one percent in any of those four polls. 
 
 Neither Graham nor Pataki received any support in three of the polls. The fourth poll, NBC/WSJ, did not initially include the names of any of the candidates who had previously appeared in the undercard. Their names were only included if a respondent declined to support any of the top-tier candidates. ||||| Fox News is opening its 5 p.m. debate to all the announced Republican candidates who fail to make the cut for the Aug. 6 prime-time event, removing a requirement that participants reach at least 1 percent in polling. 
 
 The change amounts to an insurance policy for candidates who were in danger of being disqualified from the vital first debate based on low polls – Carly Fiorina, former New York Gov. George Pataki and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). 
 
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 The announcement by Michael Clemente, Fox News Executive Vice President, News, means that all 16 announced candidates will qualify for Cleveland — either the 5 p.m. undercard, or the 9 p.m. main event. 
 
 The 9 p.m. debate will include the 10 candidates with the highest average in national polls, as determined by Fox News. The 5 p.m. forum will now include all the rest. 
 
 According to a POLITICO analysis of the latest national polling, the prime-time participants today would be Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Rick Perry. 
 
 The next three, who would currently be relegated to 5 p.m., are Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Rick Santorum and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. They are followed by Fiorina, Pataki and Graham. 
 
 All of the candidates have been getting extensive Fox airtime. Here’s a tally of the total combined Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network appearances — several for an hour — by each of the hopefuls since their official campaign launches: 
 
 1) Paul, 35 … 2) Huckabee, 31 … 3) Trump, 30 … 4) Perry, 24 … 5-6) Fiorina and Jindal, 20 each … 7) Cruz, 17 … 8) Santorum, 16 … 9) Rubio, 14 … 10-11) Carson and Graham, 12 each … 12-13) Kasich and Pataki, 11 each … 14) Christie, 7 … 15) Walker, 4 … 16) Bush, 3. 
 
 “Due to the overwhelming interest in the FOX News Facebook Debate Event Night on August 6th and in a concerted effort to include and accommodate the now 16 Republican candidate field — the largest in modern political history — FOX News is expanding participation in the 5 PM/ET debate to all declared candidates whose names are consistently being offered to respondents in major national polls, as recognized by Fox News,” said Clemente in a statement. 
 
 “Although we are relaxing one component of our entry criteria – the requirement that candidates must score 1% or higher in an average of five most recent national polls – all other components of the criteria remain in effect for the 5 PM/ET debate. Participants must meet all U.S. Constitutional requirements; must announce and register a formal campaign for president; and must file all necessary paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), including financial disclosure. 
 
 “As for the 9 PM/ET debate, all components of the original criteria remain unchanged – including the requirement that participants must place in the top 10 of an average of the five most recent national polls, as recognized by FOX News, leading up to August 4th at 5PM/ET. Such polling must be conducted by major, nationally recognized organizations that use standard methodological techniques. 
 
 “Everyone included in these debates has a chance to be President of the United States and we look forward to showcasing all of the candidates in the first primary event of the 2016 election season.” 
 
 The 5 p.m. debate, which will last an hour, will be moderated by Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum. The 9 p.m. debate will run about 90 minutes (two hours with commercial breaks and introductions), and be moderated by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace. 
 
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– There's another GOP debate on Tuesday, and the stage will feature fewer candidates—though not because anyone has dropped out. Host Fox Business on Thursday announced the lineup, and Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee have been relegated to the early debate. The criteria the decision was based on: a minimum polling average of 2.5% in four recent polls. The Hill reports the two finished at 2.25%, with Rand Paul barely making it in at the 2.5% cutoff. Seven will be joining Paul in Milwaukee, per NBC News: Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, and John Kasich. The early debate will also feature Bobby Jindal and Rick Santorum; Lindsey Graham and George Pataki didn't make the cut, having failed to grab at least 1% in any of the four polls.