Line-Up Unveiled For First Republican Debate

Fox News has named the top 10 Republican candidates who will take to the stage for the first primetime debate of the 2016 presidential race.

As expected, Donald Trump, Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker are in the top tier of candidates for the showdown this Thursday at 9pm in Cleveland, Ohio.

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, and senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul are also on the list.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Ohio Governor John Kasich were the final two to squeak through to the main stage.

The top 10 were chosen according to their ranking in five national opinion polls on Tuesday.

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, former Pennsylvania Governor Rick Santorum and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal were among those left out in the cold.

Senator Lindsey Graham, former business executive Carly Fiorina and former New York Governor George Pataki also failed to make the cut.

They have instead been relegated to a forum four hours before the main event, which pundits are dismissively calling the "kids' stage".

Mr Trump, who is leading the race for the Republican nomination out of a crowded field of 17 candidates, is expected to take centre stage.

The brash billionaire has been soaring in the polls since declaring his candidacy in June, despite courting controversy with a stream of invective aimed at everyone from his fellow Republican rivals to Mexican immigrants.

The real estate baron seems to have connected with conservative Republican voters disenchanted with his mainstream rivals.

Mr Trump and two other Republicans were absent from the stage in New Hampshire on Monday night when the rest of the candidates took part in a forum.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton's path to her party's nomination seems to have suddenly lost its lustre of inevitability.

Fifteen months out from the election, the race has been shaken up by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described socialist.

The former Secretary of State's perceived vulnerability has stoked speculation in recent days that Vice President Joe Biden may enter the Democratic contest.