The stage is set for the final GOP presidential debate of 2015. CNN released their line up early Sunday afternoon, which includes the surprising name of Rand Paul.

Paul, who was in danger of being removed from the main stage, was saved at the 11th hour by showing viability in Iowa in a Fox News poll released Sunday morning.

“In the light of new polling released this morning and in the spirit of being as inclusive as possible, CNN has decided to include Sen. Rand Paul in the prime-time debate,” a CNN spokeswoman said.

Drudge is pushing the fact Paul is considering winding down his campaign, based on a Boston Globe piece from Saturday. But that might not have actually been the case if Paul didn’t make the cut.

Asked Saturday by the Globe specifically if he would drop out of the race for president if he didn’t qualify for the main-stage GOP debate, Paul said: “We will make an announcement, on that, on Tuesday.”

Later Saturday, Matt Chisholm, New Hampshire communications director for the Paul campaign, insisted his candidate was in the race to win. He said Paul’s quote referred to whether he would participate in a secondary debate on Tuesday if he didn’t qualify for the main-stage event.

It’s really good to have Paul on the main stage because he brings something to the table most other GOP candidates don’t. Paul is willing to discuss justice reform, the need for government spending cuts, and more of a dove foreign policy. Paul’s been accused by Shikha Dalmia at Reason for being too harsh on immigration, and she does have a bit of a point. But Paul is the kind of candidate who brings substance and thoughtfulness to the debate stage. He doesn’t throw “red meat” towards supporters, like Donald Trump or Ted Cruz, but presents arguments which are meant to engage. It’s a good strategy to have and something which should be present in more debates. Plus, his throwdowns with Chris Christie over NSA spying and the Patriot Act are always entertaining.

Paul was taking a pretty interesting strategy in suggesting he wouldn’t be part of the early GOP debate because it shows how farcical he believes it’s become. Carly Fiorina and Christie are the only GOP candidates to move from the early debate to the prime-time ones. If Paul decided to not be involved in the early debate, it shows he didn’t believe there would really be any eyes on it. Variety reported the first two lower-tier debates had around 6M viewers, compared to the around 23M who watched the prime time ones. So Paul’s betting the only people who will be watching the happy hour debates are political junkies, while the more curious voters will pay attention to the prime time one. He said as much to the Globe.

“It’s very important. We’re hoping that they will give the same and equal and fair treatment that they gave to Carly Fiorina the last time.”

The strategy makes sense and it might be time for the GOP and networks to consider abandoning the early debates next year. It also might be time for the networks to consider tweaking the formula so nine candidates aren’t on the stage at the same time. That might start weeding out more candidates who are lagging in the polls, and allow other candidates more time to speak. But that’s not going to happen until the votes actually start being counted next year. It just depends on how poorly some of the candidates do in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary. If some candidates grab close to 10%, they might stay in the race for another month or so. Super Tuesday is really going to start showing who the actual candidate will be, but it just depends on what happens. Of course if there’s no candidate with a clear majority of delegates, then the talk will focus on a brokered convention. That’d be entertaining and awful at the same time. But that rides on what happens between February and March.

It’s still a really good thing to see Paul on the main debate stage if the moderators are willing to give him time to talk. We’ll wait to see if the format is going to be, “Ask Trump question. Get other candidates to talk about Trump. Ask Trump another question. Repeat.” or if it will be, “Ask Trump question. Ask Paul same question. Ask Cruz same question. Ask Carson same question. Etc.” The former will be more fun for those who want to cause controversy and hear Trump talk about whatever Trump talks about. The latter is more effective because it allows candidates to state their policies and how and why they’re different from the other candidates. It’s not always going to be like this, obviously, because a lot of GOP candidates tend to have the same viewpoints. This is why Paul’s involvement is important because he can stand out by showing how and why he doesn’t go along with the rest of the candidates. It doesn’t mean Paul will end up being the nominee, but it does show Americans not every candidates thinks alike and can encourage more debate on issues the GOP cares about, which is a very good thing.