GOP rivals to Iowa caucus winners Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are expected to take off the gloves in Republican debate tonight and follow-up one Sunday in New Hampshire.?
With at least 1 in 3 New Hampshire voters undecided ahead of Tuesday's first-in-the-nation GOP presidential primary, back-to-back debates this weekend could provide opportunity for the emergence of a clear alternative to front-runner Mitt Romney.
Skip to next paragraphThe former governor of Massachusetts comes into Saturday night?s debate with a lead of at least 20 percentage points ? and a target on his back.?
So does former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who in an 11th-hour surge fell nine votes short of winning the Iowa caucuses but who is only beginning to face the withering fire rivals dish out to front-runners. He can probably expect to see more of that in a nationally televised debate Saturday night and in a second matchup Sunday morning.
?The first rule in any debate is to do no harm,? says Tom Rath, a senior Romney campaign adviser in New Hampshire. Mr. Romney, who has built his campaign around jobs and the economy, can be expected to stick to those themes.??He is not going to get an answer wrong,? says Mr. Rath. ?This state knows him so well.?
Mr. Santorum is just emerging on the radar screen of most voters here, despite making more than 100 visits to the Granite State in the runup to the primary.?Having been drawn into spats with New Hampshire audiences over issues such as gay marriage, in this weekend's debates Santorum needs to avoid mistakes and convince conservatives, especially in upcoming primary states of South Carolina and Florida, that he is a credible alternative to Romney ? and capable of holding his own against President Obama.
"There are going to be two debates in 16 hours," says Bill Cahill, cochairman of the Santorum campaign in New Hampshire. "In tonight's debate voters are going to see Rick Santorum, for the first time, in the center of the stage standing shoulder to shoulder with Mitt Romney. That's going to help a lot. He won't be at the edge of the stage, and people will pay more attention."?
Saturday's debate begins at 9 p.m. Eastern time on ABC; it will stream live on?ABCNews.com.?Sunday's takes place at 9 a.m., and it will be broadcast during local time slots for NBC's "Meet the Press." It will be livestreaming on?NBC Politics.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who opted not to compete in the New Hampshire primary but will take part in the debates, this week unveiled an ad campaign slamming Santorum for spending on earmarks, or member projects, during his years in Congress.?It?s a charge also leveled by GOP rival Ron Paul and Sen. John McCain, a two-time New Hampshire GOP primary winner and 2008 Republican presidential nominee, who endorsed Romney on Wednesday.
In a preview of likely exchanges in this weekend?s debates, Santorum defended his earmarks as a duty of any elected official to promote the interests of constituents.
?I represented the interests of the state of Pennsylvania,? he said at a town-hall meeting in Dublin, N.H., on Friday. ?There are men and women who have an improved quality of life, and maybe are alive, because we did that.?
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