9:02 PM: A smiling Newt. Did everyone see that “I Got Nuthin’ to Lose, MoFo!” thought bubble over Newt’s head?
9:05 PM: While this debate is going on, there was some big news today in the weeds of the campaign financing game. Sheldon Adelson, an ultra-hawk casino mogul who has virtually limitless money, has given $5 million to a Newt-backing Super PAC for carpet-bombing in South Carolina.
The new PPP poll gives Mitt Romney a 30-23 lead over Newt Gingrich.
Here’s the latest TPM Poll Average of South Carolina: Read More
As we get ready for tonight’s New Hampshire debate, let’s look at where the New Hampshire race seems to be as of this moment. Read More
DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, on Ron Paul: “The Republican Party has clearly made a decision to embrace extremism and that’s been clear from their political activity as well as their caucus and conference in the House and in the Senate. They’ve allowed the Tea Party extremists to take over, it’s the tail wagging the dog.”
A schedule oddity has the GOP presidential contenders debating this evening from 9-11 ET for ABC /Yahoo/WMUR then turning around and debating again 10 hours later, at 9 a.m. ET Sunday for Meet The Press/Facebook.
Remember: No Michele Bachmann or Herman Cain this time around. We’ll be hearing a whole lot more from Rick Santorum and Ron Paul.
TPM will be here for all 3 1/2 hours of dead-on-their-feet debating.
Watching the Lions v. Saints playoff game tonight? Multitask with TPM.
From TPM Reader MW …
For somebody as politically knowledgeable as yourself, I was quite surprised to see you assert so strongly that things look good for Mitt Romney.
Romney could win every primary between now and Super Tuesday and it wouldn’t make a difference when it comes to what really counts, namely winning delegates.
Over the last two days we’ve gotten a heap of new polling data out of New Hampshire and South Carolina. And the story those numbers tell is pretty much all good for Mitt Romney.
We knew — at least since the Gingrich collapse — that he’d be strong in New Hampshire. What’s really put him in a dominating position is his strength in South Carolina, a state which I think pretty much everyone thought would be a challenge for him even if everything was going well for him.
So without further ado, here are the TPM Poll Averages and trend charts for these two key races. Read More
Rick Perry’s plan to win South Carolina seems remarkably similar to, well, this.
Meanwhile, check out this epic chart that really puts in proportion just how poorly Perry’s culture war ads served him in Iowa.
It was quite a day on the campaign trail. And you can relive it all in a convenient 100 Seconds.