ABC News has announced that Democrats Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel (at right) and Republican Duncan Hunter failed to meet its benchmarks and will not be allowed to participate in Saturday’s New Hampshire debate. On the Democratic side, that leaves four candidates in the debate; Joe Biden and Chris Dodd dropped out of the race after poor showings in Iowa.


AP via Google:

The Republican debate will include Iowa caucus winner Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. It starts at 7 p.m. EST.

Shortly after that 90-minute forum, Democrats Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Bill Richardson will take the stage at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H.

The network set rules to narrow the field. Candidates had to meet at least one of three criteria: place first through fourth in Iowa, poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major New Hampshire surveys, or poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major national surveys.

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