Romney’s Super PAC starts pouring money into anti-Newt ads in Florida after thinking they’d snuffed him out in Iowa.
Curious to hear what people think of this snippet of video. Romney this morning on the trail.
Romney concedes he called Santorum to ‘congratulate’ him but now denying it was ‘concession’ call.
Is you tax rate higher or lower than Mitt Romney’s?
(ed.note: * Okay, yesterday.)
We’ve had like a million debates this year. But it’s no hyperbole to say that we haven’t had one so far with anything like the amount of news that’s happened over the last 48 hours. For a handful of reasons it now looks very possible that Newt Gingrich could win the South Carolina primary on Saturday.
With all that on the line, the candidates meet tonight at 8 PM for yet another debate. Join us right here. We’ll be covering it live.
8:06 PM: We’ll have moment by moment debate updates and video clips here.
8:07 PM: Smart of Santorum to stamp the word “victory” about Iowa. It really gets under Mitt’s skin.
8:09 PM: Standing O suggests more support for open marriage in South Carolina than I’d imagined.
8:10 PM: For Newt’s intended audience, he nailed this answer. Shameless. But bullseye. Classic Newt. Enemy is the media, the MSM.
8:18 PM: Listening to Romney right now. He doesn’t have the tenor for this debate. Newt’s set the tone which is fire-breathing and intense. That’s not Mitt.
8:22 PM: Not that he’s not trying: “Shove it down [Obama’s] throat”? Really? It ain’t him. “I know we’re going to get it hard from president obama but we’ll stuff it down his throat and find out it is capitalism and freedom that makes america strong.”
8:30 PM: Such a weak field they’re making Newt look brilliant.
8:31 PM: Here’s why it won’t be nearly as easy as Mitt claims to get rid of “Obamacare”. Really good piece. Give it a read.
8:36 PM: Santorum’s sort of attacking Newt too on personal mandates. But it kind of doesn’t matter. This hurts Mitt a lot more. Gingrich is off doing something else. This doesn’t let Mitt regroup and go on the offensive.
8:43 PM: Wow. Ron Paul thinks no one had trouble getting health care treatment in the early 60s before Medicare/Medicaid.
A quick read on where we are so far.
I think Newt basically won this debate and maybe the primary with the opening fusilade against John King about the Marianne tell-all interview. Shameless, hubris, chutzpah, whatever. It was pitch perfect for his intended audience. He took control of the debate and drew down all the tension about when the debate would turn to the open marriage stuff.
A short time later his campaign released his tax returns. Another little ambush set there for Newt.
Mitt’s done fine. But he’s felt like a bystander so far to me in this debate. That’s fine when he’s ahead. But he needs to shake things up, upset Newt’s momentum. And he hasn’t. Not even close.
8:54 PM: I gotta say Newt is more on his game tonight than maybe I’ve ever seen him. Undeniable. And then after I say that, Santorum comes out of an amazing retort. I mean, house banking scandal? Haven’t heard about that in like 20 years. They’re both on fire. Romney’s like a bystander.
8:57 PM: Did Mitt just have a Rick Perry moment there?
Here’s video of Newt’s opening fusillade which I think probably won him the debate. Worth watching it again.