Graham, Pataki, Santorum, Jindal out of CNBC's main debate

By Eddie Scarry, Eddie Scarry

Published December 20, 2015

CNBC has bad news for Republican candidates Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, Rick Santorum and Bobby Jindal: they aren't invited to its primetime debate next week.

Like the two other GOP debates so far, CNBC's event will feature a main event consisting of 10 candidates, and the "undercard" debate of remaining candidates who aren't polling very well.

The four candidates in the undercard will start at 6 p.m. Then, the main debate will start, and will feature Donald Trump and Ben Carson at the center of the stage, placement that reflects their lead in the polls.

Others in the main event are Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee, Chris Christie, John Kasich and Rand Paul.

To make the main event, candidates were required to poll at 3 percent among recognized national polls between Sep. 17 and Oct. 21.