Chad’s Morning Brief: The Last Republican Presidential Debate of 2015

Don't miss tonight's Republican Presidential Debate. The Chad Hasty Show airs 8:30-11am on 790AM KFYO.

GOP Debate Tonight

The final debate of 2015 for the Republicans is tonight on CNN. It should be a good debate and one that will be important for Senator Ted Cruz. It will also be a large debate stage according to CNN with nine candidates making the cut.

It will be a return for Christie to the prime-time stage after failing to qualify for the Fox Business prime-time debate last month. Christie has seen a resurgence in recent weeks, particularly in New Hampshire, a key state for his campaign.

Paul, who was in danger of being removed from the main stage, was saved at the 11th hour by showing viability in Iowa in a Fox News poll released Sunday morning.

"In the light of new polling released this morning and in the spirit of being as inclusive as possible, CNN has decided to include Sen. Rand Paul in the prime-time debate," a CNN spokeswoman said.

Podium order was determined by the average of the national polls from November and December.

CNN's debate, which will be held in Las Vegas and is the fifth of the primary season, is the first to use early-state polls as a way to make the main event in prime-time. Candidates must meet one of three criteria in polls conducted between October 29 and December 13 and recognized by CNN: an average of at least 3.5% nationally; at least 4% in Iowa; or at least 4% in New Hampshire.

Along with Christie, Fiorina and Kasich qualified for the primetime debate because of their New Hampshire average.

As far as expectations go, I have some of the same expectations that I had in previous debates. I expect Cruz and Rubio to be the class of the debate tonight, but I also expect to see some fireworks between the two.

Cruz and Rubio have been going back and forth on some national security issues and I think we will see that highlighted tonight. I don't expect much out of Trump vs. Cruz. Trump in the last few debates has been more reserved and I don't see Cruz going out of his way to take a swing at Trump.

I also expect Chris Christie to come out swinging and he hopes to rise in New Hampshire.

What are your expectations?

Be sure to join KFYO and the Lubbock County Republican Party for the Debate Watch Party at Premier Cinemas tonight. Doors open at 7pm and the debate starts at 7:30pm.