WASHINGTON — Fox News Channel has confirmed that its March 21 Republican Presidential Candidate Debate from Salt Lake City, Utah, has been canceled due to the pullout of two of the three remaining candidates.
"On Feb. 20, the Republican National Committee announced that a GOP presidential primary debate would be held on March 21 in Salt Lake City,"
said Michael Clemente, EVP, news, for FNC, in a statement. "They offered that debate to Fox News Channel to host, provided there were enough candidates actively campaigning.
[SEE RELATED STORY: Donald Trump makes the morning talk-show rounds, says "there could be riots" in Cleveland at GOP convention.]
"This morning, Donald Trump announced he would not be participating in the debate," said Clemente, which set the dominos in motion. "Shortly afterward, John Kasich's campaign announced that without Trump at the debate, Kasich would not participate. Ted Cruz has expressed a willingness to debate Trump or Kasich — or both. But obviously, there needs to be more than one participant. So the Salt Lake City debate is cancelled."
The debate was to have aired on the eve of the Utah and Arizona primaries and hosted by Fox News's same trio of moderators, Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace, who had hosted the three previous FNC GOP debates.
Those three debates have been the three highest-rated programs of any type in Fox News’s history, topped by the first debate on Aug. 6 with 24 million viewers.
The debate was still on the RNC's list at press time, but with sponsors "TBD." Now make that "not TBD."
