GOP Debates Begin - But They Don't Head South Until February

The first Republican presidential debate was held Thursday night in Cleveland.

Ohio is an important swing state, but the South is also vitally important to any GOP candidate hoping to win the presidency. Yet that's not reflected in the debate schedule.

The next debate is set for September in California. After that, it's off to Boulder Colorado. Followed by more debates in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, Wisconsin.

It's not until you get to the eighth debate, in the middle of February, that the candidates face each other in a Southern state – South Carolina. Martin Kifer is an associate professor of political science at High Point University. He says it's not so much a snub as a matter of scheduling.

“A lot of these debates were strategically placed to be at places with early primaries or in the case of Iowa caucuses – so that's what we see when we get to the new year, counting down to the February debate in South Carolina.”

South Carolina historically has had the first primary in the South. The 2016 GOP primary is scheduled there for Feb. 20. North Carolina has moved up its primary from May to March.

Even if the South isn't on the debate radar until next year, Kifer says the candidates know how important the region is. And because of that, Southern voters can expect to see a lot of them. He says that's especially true in a swing state like North Carolina.

“Since we've got high-tier gubernatorial races, the presidential race will be close and we have a potentially competitive senate race, we are going to get a lot of attention.”

Democrats have fewer presidential debates scheduled – their first being in October in Nevada. They'll debate in South Carolina in January, a month before the Republicans.