First US Republican debate concludes
The first of the twelve scheduled Republican Party debates of Presidential hopefuls for 2016 campaign had concluded in Ohio, Cleveland. Donald Trump lived up to his sharp-edged reputation during the debate sparring with moderators and other candidates. The billionaire turned politician increased his Twitter follower count by more than 22,000 during the debate. The candidates discussed topics including immigration, foreign policy and abortion.
Republican Party and its roots
Republican Party also is referred to as GOP - Grand Old Party. It is one of the two major parties in the US, the other being the Democratic Party. It was founded by anti-slavery activists and Whig party members in 1854. The party's philosophy is based on American conservatism generally supporting free market capitalism, strong national defence, opposing regulation and labor unions etc.
Republican US Presidents
There have been 18 Republican US presidents. The first was Abraham Lincoln, who served from 1861 until his assassination in 1865, and the most recent being George W. Bush, who served two full four-year terms from 2001 to 2009.
What will the debates lead to?
The Republican/Democratic party debates are a part of nomination campaign to secure a party nomination. They are meant to win the support of 'delegates' who have the power to select a party's presidential nominee (voters do not directly select presidential nominees). Delegates are people who represent a national political party at the party's national convention. Each political party uses their own nomination process.
GOP Presidential debate: 2015-16
Republican Presidential debates occur among candidates for the Republican Party's presidential nomination in the national election. The Republican National Committee announced that there would be 12 debates in the 2015–2016 debate schedule. With close to 17 candidates vying for the nomination, including them all in the debate presented logistical difficulties. So, a debate selection process has been employed to select 10 most popular candidates.
Republican debate selection process
First GOP debate host Fox News determined a selection process to select 10 candidates to take part in the prime time (9 PM) debate. Fox will look at the five most recently conducted national polls from "major, nationally recognized organizations that use standard methodological techniques" to decide the top 10. The rest of the candidates will take part in the 5 pm debate.
Candidates selected for the first GOP debate
Candidates slected for the first debate included Donald Trump - TV personality; Jeb Bush - Former Governor, Florida; Scott Walker - Governor, Wisconsin; Ben Carson - Retired neurosurgeon and Mike Huckabee-Former Governor, Arkansas. The remaining are Ted Cruz - Senator, Texas; Marco Rubio - Senator, Florida; Rand Paul - Senator, Kentucky; Chris Christie - Governor, New Jersey and John Kasich - Governor, Ohio.
Bobby Jindal left out!
The 7 candidates that did not make the cut to take part in the prime time debate included Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, who is of Indian origin.
