Though it appears Rick Perry doesn't meet any of CNN's criteria, the network says Gov. Rick Perry will be allowed to participate in next week's debate, because, apparently, Perry actually wants to submit himself to more debates. That's sure to make perpetually-excluded candidates Gary Johnson and Buddy Roemer explode with rage. CNN says candidates must have placed at least fourth in Iowa or New Hampshire and/or poll at 7 percent or higher in at least three national or South Carolina polls. Perry, reports TPM, doesn't qualify by any of these measures, as many have noted while awaiting CNN's word on the matter. Add this whole confusion to the list of ignominies suffered by a guy once thought to be a huge contender for the nomination. It reminds us of another funny, if mean-spirited feature TPM has today describing "things that are less steep than Rick Perry's drop in the polls," which superimposes a line-graph of Rick Perry's poll numbers over a slideshow of monuments like the Great Pyramids. "Oops!" as they say.

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