On The Clock: Trump And Cruz Dominate Airtime, Carson Lags
Final candidate speaking times at the Fox Business Network Republican presidential debate on Thursday in North Charleston, S.C. Meg Kelly/NPR hide caption
Final candidate speaking times at the Fox Business Network Republican presidential debate on Thursday in North Charleston, S.C.
Meg Kelly/NPRWith fewer than three weeks until the Iowa caucuses, seven Republican candidates met in North Charleston, S.C., Thursday for the sixth Republican presidential debate.
Fox Business Network hosted the debate, featuring the top seven candidates based on the average of six recent national polls.
The T.V. networks that have hosted the debates so far vowed to give the candidates equal airtime, including Fox Business Network, host of Thursday's debate. Moderator Neil Cavuto told The Greenville News he would "try very hard to make sure everyone is at as equal amount of time as possible. You have to be cognizant of that. There might be one candidate that warrants aggressive follow-ups, but to be fair to the others, you have to make sure you're keeping the time and allowing them to state their case." According to NPR's counts, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz had received more talking time by far in previous debates, and that held true for Thursday's debate.