Presidential race 2016

[HairOfTheDog]

Tomorrow at 9 pm ET, President Obama will deliver his seventh and final State of the Union address of his Democratic Presidency; the address will be live streamed and broadcast across major television and radio networks.

And Thursday night, Fox Business Network will host and live-broadcast the sixth Republican debate at 9 pm ET.

I'm a little bummed about the debate line-up. Fox narrowed the number of participants this time; candidates needed to place in the top six as determined by an average of recent national polls, or in the top five in an average of recent Iowa or New Hampshire polls. Neither Rand Paul nor Carly Fiorina made the cut and were thus relegated to the 6 p.m. ET second tier debate. I think both are better presidential candidates than Ben Carson. But, so it goes.

I agree with Paul on a few issues and agree less with Fiorina. But, she is by far the best orator on the stage, in my opinion, even when she's not at her personal best. Even when I hate what she's saying, I think she elevates the quality of the debate.

Paul's campaign contends that he won't participate in a lower tier debate. So, Fiorina will be debating the issues with Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum.