Fiorina on debate: Deck ‘stacked more towards others’

GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina is casting her struggle to get on the CNN debate stage in personal terms, saying she’s had to overcome other hurdles in her life.

“I’ve been used to pushing uphill all my life,” Fiorina said Thursday during an appearance on Fox News’s “On The Record” with Greta Van Susteren.

{mosads}“I’ve been used to getting underestimated all my life, I’ve been used to having the rules and the deck, perhaps, stacked more towards others than towards me, so honestly it’s not new,” she said.

Fiorina’s campaign and supporters have pushed back hard on the CNN debate criteria, which was announced in May, because it includes many polls from before the first GOP debate, featuring the top 10 candidates in polling, on Aug. 6. 

The businesswoman was widely viewed as having won the undercard debate that day, and has since seen a bump in polls placing her in the top tier of candidates heading into the next debate Sept. 16.

But she probably wouldn’t make the top 10 debate stage under the CNN criteria.

“I guess I don’t understand why media companies are deciding who Republicans primary voters hear from,” Fiorina said.

“Of course I’d like to be on the debate stage, but I don’t think CNN is going to determine this election,” she said.

Fiorina could battle New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for the last spot at the CNN debate. Christie said earlier Thursday that it was a waste of time for Fiorina to “quibble” about the rules.

“I just find that anger doesn’t do much good,” Fiorina said on Fox. “There’s lots of other ways to get our message out.”