How are voters in Iowa, N.H. feeling about the GOP candidates

It's two weeks until the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, and NBC's Tom Brokaw joins Morning Joe to discuss how the state's voters feel about the GOP candidates.

Fox News Live Iowa GOP Debate Coverage- Streaming Now

Air Time: Thursday, December 15 at 9pm ET on Fox News

Live Stream: FoxNews.com

Participants: Bachmann, Gingrich, Huntsman, Paul, Perry, Romney, Santorum    

Weigh in! Are the candidates answering the questions? During the debate, Tweet with the candidate name and either #answer or #dodge. And watch how the audience responds live.

What will likely be the final GOP debate before the January 3rd Iowa caucuses will take place later this evening from the Sioux City Convention Center in Sioux City, Iowa. The debate is sponsored by Fox News and will feature seven of the current GOP candidates.

VIA Fox News

Watch Fox News Channel tonight at 9pm ET for the Republican Presidential Debate from Sioux City, Iowa. For additional information go to Foxnews.com/debate 

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – It’s been 32 weeks since the first Republican presidential debate. Since then, a changing cast of contenders has faced off a dozen times across the country with millions watching at home.Of the original combatants from that May 5 meeting in Greenville, S.C., only two, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum, remain. There have been four lead changes in national polls, two candidates drop out, four candidates join the field and billions of pixels poured out by reporters and pundits trying to make sense of it all.

Tonight, that all culminates here on the western edge of Iowa with the 13th showdown -- the last chance for candidates to make their cases before voters start the process of picking a presidential nominee. Even in a cycle that has been shaped by televised debates like no other, the stakes for the candidates this evening are enormous.

Here’s what’s on the line for the six men and one woman vying for the chance to confront      Barack Obama:

          Gingrich’s Perilous Perch

Like the frontrunners before him, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has the most at stake in this debate. But Gingrich’s challenge is different from some of his predecessors’ because so much of his success can be attributed to debates themselves. 

Gingrich surged to the forefront for debate performances in which he reserved his most pointed attacks for President Obama and the debate moderators themselves. The previous frontrunner, Herman Cain, also owed his stature to good debate showings, but Gingrich’s style – wry, impish lines lobbed in from the wings of the stage – isn’t suitable for a frontrunner. 

Gingrich survived his first debate as the frontrunner, an ABC affair Saturday in Des Moines, by sticking to his pledge to only be negative when directly attacked. But he has now been under withering fire from his rivals for two weeks and it’s starting to take its toll. His poll numbers are starting to slip. While some settling after the meteoric rise would be expected, Gingrich has only been the frontrunner for about three weeks, and his support is far from solid. 

While Republicans may not be so keen on Mitt Romney, the formerly media-averse former Massachusetts governor has taken to the airwaves with gusto to deliver repeated attacks on his rival. Meantime, Ron Paul and Texas Gov. Rick Perry have joined in with commercials and media appearances. The message from all three is that Gingrich is an inconsistent conservative and a creature of the Washington establishment. 

If Gingrich stays on his course of only parrying his rivals attacks he will spend an awful lot of time on the defensive tonight. Gingrich wants to talk about solutions and big ideas, but his opponents want to talk about only one thing: the former speaker’s extremely complicated record as a Republican icon. 

His no-first-punches doctrine puts Gingrich in a bind when the topic of conversation in Republican America is all about his record. 

The End of Mittness Protection

Mitt Romney looked wise for staying out of the spotlight for most of the cycle so far. But his semi-stealth campaign is now looking less savvy.

Romney relied on his big war chest and strong support among the quarter of moderate Republicans looking for an alternative to Barack Obama that would seem like a steady, sober choice to undecided independents in the general election. 

While he was raising money in New York, L.A. and London and holding chicken chili luncheons in New Hampshire, Romney’s rivals trampled each other as they tried to squeeze into the media spotlight. Romney looked more presidential and developed an ever-greater aura of inevitability. 

But the problem is that Romney missed his chance to try to re-introduce himself to conservatives on their terms. Always skeptical of his red-state credentials, Republicans have hardened in their negative attitudes about Romney. 

Now, Romney is on a media blitz trying to ruin Newt Gingrich’s chances. Romney swatted at Rick Perry before, but Perry mostly sunk himself with bad debate performances. The anti-Gingrich campaign is nastier and more sustained than anything before. 

Romney has little choice since Gingrich, the best known and most moderate of the conservative contenders in the “not Romney” intra-primary, poses an existential threat to Romney’s strategy of picking up wins on friendly turf and delegates everywhere else with a lot of second-place finishes. 

But having been the submariner candidate before (“run silent, run deep”) now means Romney is using his media spotlight moment to do something voters hate: ceaselessly attack a fellow Republican. 

Romney bets he can fall back on his reliable core of support to rebound in New Hampshire and regain his footing. But waiting for him in the Granite State is former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, a fellow Mormon and a fellow moderate, who has staked his entire strategy on New Hampshire. With Gingrich pulling in some support there and Huntsman gaining ground, Romney faces additional peril with his scorched-earth campaign. 

Huntsman always gets under Romney’s skin, and tonight watch for the former ambassador to China to have his longest needles out for his New Hampshire rival.

Driving up his own negatives with the rough stuff may be necessary to knock down Gingrich, but Romney may not have the cushion he once thought he did. The one time frontrunner avoided the early perils of a high-visibility campaign in a boom-and-bust cycle, but he has left himself with a tough task in the closing debate.

Can he derail Gingrich without running off the track himself? 

Plausibility Test for Paul

Republicans love Ron Paul on domestic issues, but can’t abide his foreign policy. His task tonight is to either allay those concerns or at least not exacerbate the problem. 

Paul is staging a rally in Iowa based on the best grassroots organization and conservative frustrations with Romney and Gingrich. A good showing tonight means looking like a plausible choice to Iowans who don’t want to look foolish with their caucus pick. 

Paul doesn’t have to look like the nominee, but just like someone fed up Iowa Republicans wouldn’t be embarrassed by later on.

In this year’s first debate, Paul was greatly advantaged by the killing of Osama bin Laden by a team of U.S. commandos less than a week before. It buttressed his argument that it was time for America to leave Afghanistan and focus on getting the federal government under control. 

The latest news is less helpful. Many Republicans have grave misgivings about the fact that today marks the official end of the U.S. military presence in Iraq. While some may be sorry about the way the war was handled or that it was even begun, most Republicans believe that the Middle East is going the wrong way for the United States very rapidly. 

Iran is on the rise, American allies are under siege and Russia and China are goading their friends in Tehran to make it even worse. With so much angst, Paul’s policy of immediate disengagement and rapprochement with Iran will not sound so good to skeptical Republican voters. 

Paul’s task is to not say more than necessary on the subject and keep the conversation where he can benefit most: a test of the candidates’ conservative consistency. 

If Paul looks too risky on foreign policy, Iowans have other options among the conservative alternatives. Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann have thrown themselves at the feet of Iowa conservatives begging for the chance to be their champion. Most dangerous for Paul, though, is his fellow Texan, Perry.

Perry’s boom and bust occurred when conservatives were still dreaming of perfection. Now, having endured Herman Cain’s embarrassing collapse and been forced to rationalize their way through Gingrich’s apostasies from a 40-year career in politics, Perry’s main weakness, poor debating, looks less glaring. 

Perry is using his cash reserves to push hard on his status as an evangelical Christian and his stature as the governor of a very large, very Republican state. If Paul fails the plausibility test, the folks out here in cattle country may opt to saddle up again with Perry.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/15/high-stakes-high-drama-for-final-debate-before-voting-begins/#ixzz1geESPkZB           

 

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Gingrich/Huntsman Lincoln-Douglas debate

Report from Deseret News:

A little-known former Congressman named Abraham Lincoln ran against incumbent Sen. Stephen Douglas in 1858, and the two men subsequently engaged in a series of seven epic debates across their home state of Illinois. Although Lincoln would lose that senate race to Douglas, the notoriety of the Lincoln-Douglas debates catalyzed Honest Abe's successful bid for president in 1860.

Jon Huntsman Jr. and GOP frontrunner Newt Gingrich will stage a one-on-one, Lincoln-Douglas debate Monday in New Hampshire — and by hearkening back to yesteryear both men seek to break Mitt Romney's stranglehold on Republican support in the Granite State.

Huntsman's campaign website indicates the debate will be "on foreign policy and national security." It will begin at 2 p.m. MST and can be steamed online at or viewed on television when C-SPAN rebroadcasts the event at 6 p.m. MST.

In anticipation of the Huntsman-Gingrich faceoff, the BBC summarizes for its British audience what motivates the Huntsman-Gingrich foray into a Lincoln-Douglas debate.

"Mr. Gingrich … wants to showcase his knowledge and public policy experience. Mr. Huntsman, former governor of Utah, has long experience in government and the private sector, and is eager for the exposure. … And both hope strong performances will drain support from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the frontrunner in the upcoming New Hampshire primary election."

CNN released new polling last week that shows Gingrich (26 percent) and Huntsman (8 percent) are running second and fourth, respectively, among GOP presidential candidates in New Hampshire. Despite falling behind Gingrich in critical early battleground states such Iowa, South Carolina and Florida, Mitt Romney continues leading the pack in the Granite State with 35 percent.

The Bedford (N.H.) Patch reported over the weekend that plans for the Huntsman-Gingrich debate nearly fizzled.

"After a roller coaster of negotiations put a debate between Jon Huntsman and Newt Gingrich in jeopardy, the event is officially back on — in a brand new location. The presidential candidates are moving out of Windham to hold their Dec. 12 Lincoln-Douglas debate at St. Anselm's College in Manchester. The two candidates previously had confirmed for a debate at Windham High School."

Newsweek columnist John Avlon wrote an op-ed piece Monday for urging the Republican Party to "give Huntsman another look."

"Jon Huntsman is putting all his chips on New Hampshire, where he's been inching forward in the polls. Unlike the Iowa caucus, it's a state with an open primary where independents can vote and a principled center-right perspective might be rewarded. Tonight he will get a chance to shine in a Lincoln-Douglas style debate with Gingrich in New Hampshire. It might prove to be a highlight of the 2012 campaign — a substantive and civil debate about ideas, providing more light than heat."

Donald Trump fires himself from debate-hosting duty

After most of the 2012 Republican presidential candidates refused to attend a Newsmax-sponsored debate moderated by businessman/reality TV impresario Donald Trump, the Donald himself announced Wednesday that he would step aside from his role in the event.

"I have decided not to be the moderator of the Newsmax debate," Trump said, according to Fox News.

Since Newsmax announced that Trump would moderate the Dec. 27th debate in Iowa earlier this month, the conservative magazine has struggled to convince candidates to show up. A spokesman for Texas Rep. Ron Paul said that the circus-like atmosphere of the event was "beneath the office of the Presidency" and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman's spokesman said he was looking "forward to watching Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich suck up to Trump with a big bowl of popcorn." Even Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who has met with Trump on several occasions, declined. In the end, only two candidates, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, accepted the invitation to join.

Trump injected himself into the Republican primary process last spring, when he led a campaign to pressure President Barack Obama to release a second form of his birth certificate from his native Hawaii. Trump hinted at the time that he was considering joining the Republican presidential race, and he still says that he's leaving the door open to run as an independent.

Newt Gingrich takes his fourth ‘no-adultery pledge’

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich this week signed a pledge to uphold conservative values from the Iowa-based group The Family Leader and vowed to restrict federal dollars from paying for abortion overseas, uphold the Defense of Marriage Act and stay true to his wife, Callista.

"I will also oppose any judicial, bureaucratic, or legislative effort to define marriage in any manner other than as between one man and one woman," Gingrich wrote in a letter to The Family Leader announcing his support of the group's pledge. "I also pledge to uphold the institution of marriage through personal fidelity to my spouse and respect for the marital bonds of others."

That would actually be the fourth time Gingrich has taken a no-adultery pledge. He took the first one in 1962 when he married Jackie Battley, and then again in 1981 when he married Marianne Ginther and made a third one to Callista Bisek (now Gingrich) in 2000.

Gingrich, whose first two marriages ended because he was having an affair with a woman who would later become his wife, addressed his history of infidelity at the ABC News/Yahoo! Republican debate on Saturday, where he said that he has sought forgiveness for his mistakes.

"In my case, I said up front openly, I've made mistakes at times," Gingrich said. "I've had to go to God for forgiveness. I've had to seek reconciliation."

You can read the full letter, first reported by Politico, that Gingrich sent to the Family Leader after the jump:

To Bob Vander Plaats and the Executive Board of The FAMiLY LEADER:

I appreciate the opportunity to affirm my strong support of the mission of the FAMiLY LEADER by solemnly vowing to defend and strengthen the family through the following actions I would take as President of the United States.

Defending Marriage. As President, I will vigorously enforce the Defense of Marriage Act, which was enacted under my leadership as Speaker of the House, and ensure compliance with its provisions, especially in the military. I will also aggressively defend the constitutionality of DOMA in federal and state courts. I will support sending a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman to the states for ratification. I will also oppose any judicial, bureaucratic, or legislative effort to define marriage in any manner other than as between one man and one woman. I will support all efforts to reform promptly any uneconomic or anti-marriage aspects of welfare and tax policy. I also pledge to uphold the institution of marriage through personal fidelity to my spouse and respect for the marital bonds of others.

Defending the Unborn. I believe that life begins at conception. On day one of my administration, I will sign an executive order reinstating Ronald Reagan's Mexico City policy that prevents taxpayer dollars from being used to fund abortions overseas. I will also work with Congress to repeal Obamacare, defund Planned Parenthood so that no taxpayer dollars are being used to fund abortions but rather transfer the money so it is used to promote adoption and other pro-family policies, and enact legislation that provides greater protections for the unborn.

Defending Religious Liberty. As President, I will vigorously defend the First Amendment's rights of religious liberty and freedom of speech against anyone who would try to stifle the free expression of believers. I will also promote legislation that protects the right to conscience for healthcare workers so they are not compelled to perform abortions and other procedures that violate their religious teachings.

Defending Against Debt. As President, I will undertake vigorous policies to maximize capital investment and job creation, along with common sense entitlement reforms, to dramatically turn around the nation's fiscal situation. Building upon the same principles I championed during my four years as Speaker, when we reduced the national debt by over $400 billion and dramatically reduced the national debt as a percentage of the GDP, we will reduce the enormous burden upon American families of the public debt and unfunded liabilities.

Defending the Right of the People to Rule Themselves. Today, as federal courts have intervened in sectors of American life never before imaginable, including the intervention in the definition of marriage as well as when unborn life can be protected under the Constitution, the public has increasingly come to view them as an usurpative device for unelected rulers. This abuse of power and loss of public confidence amounts to a constitutional crisis. I believe the executive and legislative branches each have an independent responsibility to interpret the Constitution, and in those rare circumstances when they believe the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, have engaged in a serious constitutional error, they can choose among an array of constitutional powers to check and balance the courts. As President, I will nominate for federal judgeships, including justices of the Supreme Court, only those individuals who are committed to an originalist understanding of the Constitution. Judges with an originalist understanding will subordinate themselves to the meaning of the Constitution as it was intended by the framers, and not substitute their own judgments about its meaning. The inherent judicial self-restraint that comes from an originalist approach to the Constitution offers the best long-term assurance that federal judges will not exceed their powers and trample on individual liberties. I will also work with Congress to use the Constitutional means available to reassert the right of the elected branches of government to defend their understanding of the meaning of the Constitution, including limiting the jurisdiction of the federal courts to decide on certain issues, when they believe the federal courts have engaged in a serious constitutional error.

Sincerely,

Newt Gingrich

Why the next 10 days are the most critical of the GOP campaign

Six months ago, political junkies were deriding this year's Republican presidential race as one of the slowest and least exciting nomination battles in recent memory. Mitt Romney looked hard to beat. Newt Gingrich's campaign appeared all but dead. And several key Republicans whom many party insiders had begged to run—including Chris Christie, Mitch Daniels, Mike Huckabee and Haley Barbour— opted out of the campaign.

Yet that boring Republican race has turned into one of the most unpredictable and chaotic presidential nominating contests in party history. With voting set to begin in a little over three weeks, the race now enters its most crucial phase. Republican voters in the early states will finally have to decide who they want to represent their party against President Obama.

The next 10 days will be the most critical of the campaign, as the candidates begin to make closing arguments to Iowans before most voters tune out the campaign during the Christmas holidays.

Newt Gingrich, who leads in the polls in three of the four early nominating states (Iowa, South Carolina and Florida--he trails only in New Hampshire), faces the most pressure. He must translate his surge in the polls into actual wins.

"If Gingrich can survive this week and next week, he may be OK," Warren Tompkins, an influential South Carolina-based Republican strategist, told Yahoo News. "All he needs to do is make it through that lull through the holidays."

The former House speaker largely fended off attacks from his rivals at Saturday's Iowa debate, sponsored by ABC News and Yahoo News. But the clashes hinted at Gingrich's biggest enemy: Gingrich himself.

His more than three decades in the public eye have already provided plenty of fodder for attack ads from his rivals, including Romney and Ron Paul. Scrutiny of Gingrich's record and his personal life—including two failed marriages that ended, in part, because he cheated—is likely to increase in coming days.

On Saturday, Gingrich coolly dispatched his rivals' attempts to attack his record. ("Let's be candid: The only reason you didn't become a career politician is you lost to Teddy Kennedy in 1994," Gingrich replied when Romney described him as a creature of Washington.)

For Romney, the stakes are equally high, as he is now in virtually the same position he was four years ago, when he was an early frontrunner for the Republican nomination but lost ground in the polls as the Iowa caucuses approached. In trying to contain Gingrich's surge, the Romney team is using the same playbook they used in 2008 when they tried to take down Mike Huckabee's insurgent candidacy, by carpet-bombing TV and radio with negative ads.

That approach backfired for Romney four years ago—and could do so again. Many Republican voters remain skeptical about Romney, polls show. For months, the race has been about voters looking for an alternative to the former Massachusetts governor, with Gingrich being the latest candidate to rise into that role.

If Gingrich falters, there are others who could step into his shoes. Rick Perry, who raised a lot of money before his campaign faltered this fall, is spending millions of dollars on TV ads in Iowa and seems to have finally found his footing in the debates—though it may be too late. Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum are trying to fight not only for the divided support of social conservatives in Iowa, but also for Herman Cain's supporters, who are now looking for a new candidate in the race.

The biggest question mark in Iowa could be Ron Paul, who has steadily risen in the polls in the state in recent weeks and has been drawing the biggest crowds of the 2012 contenders there. Paul's candidacy has been dismissed by many mainstream Republicans, but he is second only to Romney in his ability to raise campaign cash, which makes him a very real player in the race.

Adding to the chaos and uncertainty of the primaries are factors that weren't in place four years ago, including super PACs that have already spent millions on TV ads to boost specific candidates and attack others. In New Hampshire, Jon Huntsman, a moderate Republican who is aiming for a surprise showing in the state, is being aided by a super PAC funded by his father.

The way the race looks today could be completely changed by the time voters head to the polls. Iowa and New Hampshire are home to voters who are known for being late deciders and for changing their minds at the last minute. In January, those voters could break for anyone.

2012 TV Guide, Monday primetime

• Herman Cain is scheduled to be on Fox News's "Hannity" at 9 p.m.

• Rick Santorum is scheduled to be on Fox News's "On The Record with Greta Van Susteren" at 10 p.m.

Jon Huntsman: 'I'm not running as an independent'

Via First Read:

"I'm not running as an independent. I'm not running as an independent," Huntsman told reporters after a town hall meeting this morning. "I don't know how many times I have to say that."

This is the first time Huntsman appeared to completely rule out a run outside the Republican Party, and it's his most definitive answer to date. Previously, the former ambassador to China seemed to leave the option open, saying he was running in the GOP and planned to win the Republican nomination.

"I've been a lifelong Republican. I expect to be the nominee, and that's how we are going to resolve it," Huntsman said, ducking the question in Londonderry on Friday evening.

It sounds like more of a sweeping statement than it is - after all, Huntsman is not running as an independent right now. He didn't say he wouldn't be down the road, however, or rule it out for the future.

And Charlie Crist, he of the "third way" campaign in Florida last year, also adamantly protested he was running as a Republican...until he filed papers as an independent.

Gingrich vs Romney on Immigration

Newt Gingrich is asked by Diane Sawyer to further explain his immigration proposal which would empower "local neighborhood boards" to decide which illegal immigrants would be allowed to stay if they have been in the U.S. for a long enough time. Gingrich is asked how much time is enough time? Mitt Romney says he wants no favoritism at all for those who have come illegally.

ABC News Republican Debate

Your Voice Your Vote

Dec 10, 2011

Perry on Gingrich: You'll Cheat On Anybody

Rick Perry considers marriage to be a vow to God and says "that's even stronger than a handshake from Texas". He makes his views known about Newt Gingrich's multiple marriages and the implications it has on Gingrich's character.

Will a candidate who breaks marital vows be more likely to break faith with voters? Perry answers, "If you will cheat on your wife ... then why wouldn't you cheat on your business partner, or why wouldn't you cheat on anybody for that matter?"

ABC News Republican Debate

Your Voice Your Vote

Dec 10, 2011

FULL ABC News/Yahoo Republican debate - 12/10

On Saturday evening ABC presented a GOP debate live from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. The debate was sponsored by ABC News, Yahoo! News, WOI-TV, the Des Moines Register and the Republican Party of Iowa. This was the first debate held since Herman Cain ended his 2012 run leaving just 6 candidates on stage to field questions. Jon Huntsman did not meet the polling requirements set forth by ABC to participate in this debate.

Here is the entire 1 hour and 30 minute debate video via YouTube:

Michele Bachmann takes on Newt/Romney

One characteristic of Michele Bachmann is that she is not afraid to go after a candidate. In this case, she goes after two in the same sentence, inventing the term "Newt Romney". She classified them as political insiders who were weak on conservative issues and flip flopped on everything from a federal healthcare mandate to global warming.

Romney distances himself from Gingrich by evoking a famous debate line: "I know Newt Gingrich ... Newt Gingrich is a friend of mine ... but he and I are not clones".

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW

Mitt Romney Offers Rick Perry $10,000 Bet

Report from ABC News:

With the Iowa caucuses looming, six Republican presidential candidates clashed tonight over their conservative credentials and personal histories in a Des Moines debate that saw resurgent frontrunner Newt Gingrich battling attacks by his rivals from all sides.

But it was Mitt Romney who stole the spotlight for a $10,000 bet with Texas Gov. Rick Perry over what he wrote about the individual health insurance mandate — then removed — in subsequent editions of his book, "No Apologies."

"I read your first book and it said in there that your mandate in Massachusetts should be the model for the country. And I know it came out of the reprint of the book," Perry said. "But, you know, I'm just sayin', you were for individual mandates, my friend."

Romney disputed the claim, challenging Perry to a $10,000 bet over who was right.

"I have not said, in that book, first edition or the latest edition, anything about our plan being a national model imposed on the nation," Romney said.

"I'm not in the betting business, but I'll show you the book," Perry replied.

In the first version of Romney's book, a line referring to a universal health care mandate reads: "We can accomplish the same thing for everyone in the country, and it can be done without letting government take over health care."

In the later paperback version, the line was changed to: "And it was done without the government taking over health care."

December 10th ABC/Yahoo News GOP Debate

Tonight’s GOP debate between is expected to highlight Mitt Romney’s contempt for Newt Gingrich’s stellar rise to the top of the polls.

Gov. Romney has fielded anti-Newt ads and tried to paint the former speaker as an unfaithful husband.

Newt had remained positive in the fray but on Friday he said that Mitt was “running to the left of Teddy Kennedy in Massachusetts in 1994!”. On Thursday his staff hinted that Newt would prepare to go after Mitt in Saturday night’s debate if necessary.

Early in the debate schedule it was the Romney-Perry fights. Now it’s Romney and Gingrich in the ring, but there are still a few other candidates – believe it or not.

Mitt and Newt will be joined by Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum for a two hour debate scheduled to begin at 9pm ET on December 10th.

Where to Watch

The debate on December 10th will Air on ABC and the live stream will be on ABCNews