Tonight’s debate starts at 9 PM Eastern on ABC. We’ll be covering it live here at TPM.
In Iowa tonight, a surging Newt Gingrich said he won’t meet Romney’s fire with fire. Read our just-filed report from Urbandale,Iowa.
It’s been hard to say one debate stands out from another in the seemingly endless round of Republican presidential primary debates. But one’s on tap tonight that is definitely in a separate category. Formally, it’s all the same; in context, it’s entirely different. All the other remaining candidates have fallen far into the background and this is the first debate with Newt Gingrich as the clear frontrunner (he leads nationally and in every early state beside New Hampshire) and Team Romney trying everything at their disposal to take him down before time runs out.
Everyone always assumed this contest would come down to Mitt versus some non-Mitt.
What I don’t think many figured was that Mitt would so clearly be behind.
We’ll have live coverage tonight.
Our Evan McMorris-Santoro is on the ground tonight in Iowa getting a read on the Romney/Gingrich collision course. The state’s airwaves are blanketed in Romney ads heralding the Romney marriage of many centuries standing. And Mrs. Romney is barnstorming the state holding “Women for Mitt” events. So subtlety will not come in first on January 3rd.
