Analysis finds frontrunners (i.e. Trump) get more air time at debates

CLEVELAND -- If form from the last election holds, Donald Trump will get the most air time at Thursday night's Republican debate.

Frontrunners often do.

Mitt Romney, considered the early favorite for the 2012 GOP nomination, got the most attention during the debates in that election, according to a new study by Smart Politics, the non-partisan political news site sponsored University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

Romney "received nearly five extra minutes of face time per debate above his proportional share during the 2012 debates while no other candidate ended up on the plus side of the moderator’s stopwatch," writes Eric J. Ostermeier, a research associate at the Humphrey school.

That would seem to indicate that Trump -- who is leading Republican polls and is the center of media attention --  will get the most face time in the Cleveland event sponsored by Fox News.

Says Smart Politics:

"Perhaps all bets are off when 10 candidates take the stage on Thursday evening, but if Donald Trump does inordinately become the focus of the moderator’s questions, it’s not because he’s Donald Trump -- it’s because he’s the (current) GOP frontrunner."