Martin O'Malley could be excluded from the next Democratic debate

There's an outside chance the next Democratic debate could just be a face-off between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. NBC, the host of the next Democratic debate slated for Jan. 17, announced its criteria for candidates to make the stage Friday and, as it stands, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley just barely makes the cut.

NBC's criteria requires that candidates have a polling average of 5 percent nationally or in Iowa, New Hampshire, or South Carolina, where the debate is being hosted. Right now, O'Malley is polling right at 5 percent in Iowa, but he nowhere near makes the mark in the other states or nationally. If his poll numbers in Iowa were to drop, he likely would not qualify.

An NBC executive has since told CNN that it would round up from "a 4.5 percent if necessary" and that the network expects all three candidates will be onstage, a sentiment shared by Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Sanders' campaign also expressed support for O'Malley's inclusion. "Bernie thinks Gov. O'Malley should be in the debate," a Sanders spokesperson said. "Fair is fair."

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The debate marks the Democratic Party's fourth of the election season and its last before 2016 voting begins Feb. 1 with the Iowa caucuses. Both Clinton and Sanders easily made the cut.