Santorum: GOP debate organizers ‘should apologize’

Some Republican presidential candidates are voicing frustration that they are being left off the stage of this week’s prime-time GOP debate.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, the 2012 Republican runner-up, offered the strongest pushback to Fox News and the Republican National Committee after the number of participants in the first debate was capped at 10.

“They probably need to apologize to the American public more than the candidates; they’re the ones not getting the opportunity to get a chance see all the folks who could win this race and who could actually be the best candidate for president,” Santorum, who didn’t make the cut, told NBC News.

Santorum Communications Director Matt Beynon said in a statement late Tuesday that excluding some candidates based on polls seven months before voting is “preposterous,” adding that the Republican National Committee “deserves as much blame for sanctioning this process” as the network airing the debate.

A super-PAC supporting another hopeful in the lower-tier crowd, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, announced its plan to air ads highlighting Jindal’s campaigning efforts in Iowa during Thursday’s prime-time debate.

“The debate in Cleveland is all about a celebrity,” the pro-Jindal Believe Again group says in its newest ad.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who was crowded out of the main debate, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) told supporters that they were looking forward to participating in a separate debate airing at 5 p.m. EST for candidates who didn’t finish in the top 10.

I look forward to being @FoxNews 5pm debate for what will be a serious exchange of ideas & positive solutions to get America back on track.

— Rick Perry (@GovernorPerry) August 4, 2015

#HappyHourDebate – Thursday 5pm. Be there! pic.twitter.com/CljFSSi0C9

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) August 5, 2015

GOP front-runner Donald Trump, who will take center stage Thursday night in the prime-time event, took credit for Perry and Graham not making the cut, noting their poll numbers ticked down after they jabbed him.

Businesswoman Carly Fiorina, former New York Gov. George Pataki and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore also will be in the earlier debate.

“I look forward to answering questions on Thursday in Cleveland. I continue to be encouraged by the support of conservative activists and grassroots Republicans across the country,” Fiorina said in a statement.