C-SPAN Partners with New Hampshire Union Leader To Bring August 3rd New Hampshire Republican Forum To A National TV Audience

(For Immediate Release: July 15, 2015) C-SPAN has agreed to partner with the New Hampshire Union Leader for the New Hampshire newspaper’s August 3rd Voters First Forum.

All 17 current or likely Republican presidential candidates have been invited to participate in the forum, which will start at 7pmET at St. Anselm’s College in Manchester on Monday, Aug.
3. Confirmations have been received so far from Gov. Chris Christie, Ben Carson, Sen. Ted Cruz, Gov. Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Sen. Lindsey Graham, Gov. John Kasich, and fmr. Gov. George Pataki.

As a forum partner, C-SPAN will provide LIVE coverage of the event to a nationwide audience. C-SPAN will show the forum, in its entirety, on C-SPAN TV, C-SPAN Radio, and livestream on C-SPAN.org.

In addition to the Union Leader, forum co-sponsors include:

• •  New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College
• •  WGIR-AM Radio (Manchester) & I-Heart Networks
• •  Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette
• •  KCRG –TV (Cedar Rapids, IA)
• •  Charleston SC Post & Courier
• •  WLXT-TV-TV (Columbia, SC)
  

Jack Heath of WGIR-AM Radio, host of New Hampshire Today, will moderate the forum. Each candidate will have approximately five minutes to answer questions individually on the stage.

“This event is significant because it will afford the public its first opportunity to hear all of the Republican presidential candidates answer questions on one stage,” said C-SPAN politics executive producer Steve Scully.

In a joint statement, publishers of the Union Leader, the Post and Courier, and the Gazette said it is important that voters in the three states that lead off the nomination process have an opportunity to see the candidates together on a level playing field at this early stage. They said they were prompted to provide the forum in part because of the narrow criteria that Fox News will use to limit Republican candidates in its Aug. 6 debate in Cleveland, Ohio.

“Fox says only the ‘top’ 10 candidates, as judged solely by national polling, will be allowed on its stage,” the publishers said. “That may be understandable later, but the first votes are half a year away and there are a lot more than 10 viable candidates. The early primary process gives all candidates a chance to be heard. If networks and national polls are to decide this now, the early state process is in jeopardy and only big money and big names will compete.”

About C-SPAN:
Created by the cable TV industry and now in nearly 100 million TV households, C-SPAN programs three HD public affairs television networks; C-SPAN Radio (90.1 in the Washington Baltimore area; nationwide at c-span.org, through the C-SPAN Radio app and on XM satellite radio) and a video-rich website which hosts the C-SPAN Video Library. Visit http://www.c- span.org/ to learn more.

Contact:
Howard Mortman, C-SPAN Communications Director


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Ed. - See also:
Staff report.  "Outfoxed: Voters Forum to be first for GOP.  Union Leader, July 14, 2015.