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This R&D provides resources on the upcoming Fox News Republican presidential debate.  The debate will take place on Thursday evening and will feature ten of the seventeen candidates seeking the party’s presidential nomination.  While early debates usually do not attract significant attention, the sizable lead that Donald Trump has established in national polls makes this first debate a media spectacle.  Trump has tried to downplay his chances and pundits have different advice for the other GOP challengers as to whether or not they should aggressively attack Trump at the event. The seven candidates who do not qualify for the event will get to participate in a separate lower tier debate that will take place before the “main” debate later in the evening.