The candidates will be debating live from New Hampshire ahead of Tuesday's primary there and its likely voters can expect some fireworks.?
After a strong showing in the Iowa caucuses Rick Santorum has experienced a slight bump in the New Hampshire polls, though not nearly enough to seriously threaten Mitt Romney's double digit lead.
Ron Paul, meanwhile, continues to poll in second place, 20 pts behind Romney but 10 pts ahead of Gingrich, Santorum and Jon Huntsman, who skipped Iowa to focus on New Hampshire. Rick Perry is barely registering at one percent.
All eyes are likely to be on Newt Gingrich tonight.? Gingrich is the strongest debater in the field and his brutal concession speech in Iowa made clear he intends to go straight for Romney's jugular.??
10:43 PM | Stephanopoulos asks: Where would you be if you weren't here tonight?
Perry: At the shooting range (in the middle of the night?)
Gingrich: At a football game
Santorum:?Huddled with the family watching football.?
Romney: "Football. I love it.'?
Paul: If the rest of the family fell asleep I'd be reading an economics textbook.?
Huntsman: I'd be on the phone with my two sons in the Navy.?
_AND THAT'S A WRAP!
10:35 PM | Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney mix it up on China
Romney decides to savage Jon Huntsman on China, clobbering him for implementing Obama's trade policies while "the rest of us were trying to get Republicans elected."
Huntsman responds by saying something in Chinese.
10:27 PM | Mitt Romney quotes the Declaration of Independence....
And the ABC cameras go wild with sweeping panning motions and heroic angles showing his stout chin.?
This really isn't a fair contest.?
10:25 PM | Rick Perry interrupts
and pretends to answer Ron Paul, while mouthing some bromides about getting Washington working again.?
A really dispiriting performance.?
10:23 PM | Ron Paul: What is your positive, practical vision?
We have to regain our freedoms. And we have to understand how bubbles develop and are burst. "The people that built up this debt, went to Washington and got a bailout."?
And we have to understand the business cycle. ?
10:21 PM | Mitt Romney looks like the nominee already
He is not attacking anyone, and no one is attacking him. Mitt Romney instead talks freely about his ideas, and his vision for the country in the most glowing terms. So far he is totally untouched.?
10:19 PM | Rick Santorum, trying to distinguish himself on manufacturing
"I come from southwest Pennsylvania.... the heart of steel country."?
He says that in the past labor and capital didn't understand global competition and made mistake, but now regulation is the culprit in killing jobs.?
10:17 PM | Gov. Huntsman, "Where's the money going to come from?"
"In order to pay your bills you have to expand your economic base..... but think of where this country would be if during the first two years of Barack Obama we had a different president. .. I would have cleaned out all the loopholes and deductions from this tax code."?
10:16 PM | Over an hour in and "jobs" is brought up again
Mitt Romney, "I believe in an America that is built on opportunity and freedom, not Barack Obama's welfare state."?
10:05 PM | Rick Santorum to Paul
"If we had your foreign policy, we wouldn't have a fleet to pick them up." Referring to the Iranian fishermen recently rescued by U.S. Navy from pirates in the Gulf.?
10:04 PM | Here we go, Ron Paul on foreign policy
"I don't want Iran to get a nuclear weapon. I voted to go after Osama Bin Laden."?
"The president is not a king.
"There are some in Washington who cannot wait until they start bombing Iran."?
10:02 PM | Rick Perry
Rick Perry suggests sending troops back into Iraq. "The president is kowtowing to his liberal leftist base," he says.?
It seems that RIck Perry forgot that Obama drew troops down on the timeline established by George W. Bush and Nouri Al Maliki.?
10:00 PM | Rick Santorum, "This president has sanitized every defense document"
The word Islam doesn't appear in any document "becuase we are fighting a politically correct war."?
9:59 PM | Rick Santorum on where Obama has made mistakes
"in Iraq, Egypt, I would argue Libya, Israel."?
9:58 PM | Newt Gingrich piles on the adjectives
"Afghanistan is a TINY piece of a GIGANTIC mess." Gingrich is back t taking it up another level.?
9:57 PM | Huntsman: "I think civil war is ahead in Afghanistan.."
"I don't want to be the president that invests another penny in a civil war."?
9:55 PM | Moderators to Huntsman: when should the troops come home?
"By the end of 2013, we ought to draw them down.... I don't want to be nation-bilding in Southeast Asia when this nation needs building now."?
9:54 PM | Rick Perry Again!
Perry cites the lines from his ad on the Barack Obama "administration's war on religion."?
9:53 PM | Ron Paul, will you run as a third party candidate?
I've all but ruled it out. Let me see how it goes. Paul is finally taking it easy.?
9:51 PM | Mitt Romney on marriage
"3000 years of human history should not be discarded"
9:51 PM | Gingrich switches gears
Irritated that it is taking so long to get through this topic. Gingrich blames media and "anti-Christian bigotry" in an answer that gets big applause. He cited the closure of Catholic adoption agencies due to changes in the marriage laws of Massachucetts.?
And Romney jumps right on the bandwagon Gingrich created.?
9:46 PM | What would you say personally to really sympathetic gay people?
Gingrich talks about the "sacrament of marriage" and implies that the push for gay marriage is an imposition on an important institution.?
Huntsman says that civil unions, which he supports are "fair" and notes that he is a traditionalist on marriage between one man and one woman.?
Santorum is asked an emotionally charged question about same-sex parents adopted. He explains that marriage is a federal issue and that state laws handle adoption. And elaborates that a Federal Marriage Amendment would abrogate existing gay marriages.?
Romney on what he would say to a sympathetic gay couple: there could be hospital visitation rights, civil contracts, etc.. but to say that marriage is something other than between a man and a woman is not needed.?
9:41 PM | Stephanopolous asks Mitt Romney to answer for a view that Rick Santorum doesn't actually hold
...on whether states can ban contraception.?
And Mitt Romney is beating this question to death. And instead of getting into the specifics of Constitutional law, or the morality of contraception, he is reciting basic civics lessons.?
9:35 PM | ABC producers are highlighting conflicts that involve Santorum
The media has accepted that he is a top-tier candidate.?
9:33 PM | Ron Paul is asked about the racial overtones of his newsletters...
and he calls it a diversion from issues that matter, before pivoting (effectively) to saying that their is racism in the judiaciary in teh enforcmeent of drug laws. "How many times have you seen a white rich person get the death penalty."?
This may actually be a sentiment that has enver been expressed in a national poltical debate of any party.?
9:31 PM | Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich are getting testy.
Paul calls it a pet peeve when people get deferrents.?
Gingrich says he wasn't elligible, and says that he "personally resents" Paul's line of rhetoric.?
9:27 PM | Dr. Paul has called you [Gingrich] a "chicken hawk"
Dr. Paul says a lot of things. That's his style, says Gingrich, with a completely intensified hatred of Paul since his past events.?
The idea that a veteran in the North Country has to go to Boston is "totally fundamentally wrong"??
9:26 PM | General Comment on the debate so far
Romney is playing nice with everyone at precisely the moment when their strategy should be to directly attack him. He's guiding them to attack each other.?
9:24 PM | Romney's gesture of kindness to Huntsman
Reflects total confidence in his ability to win the nomination. That's why he is saying he would "endorse whoever becomes the nominee"?
9:23 PM | ABC moderators invite Jon Huntsman to attack anyone
Huntsman passes up the free chance and mentions that he ran the most complex embassy.?
And when the moderators asked Romney to respond to Huntsman saying he would be best qualified, Romney played nice and said, "He'd certaintly be better than Barack Obama."?
Romney is confident.?
9:22 PM | Huntsman: Why You As Commander In Chief?
"It's about leading organizations, leading peole and creating a vision."?
He talks about Utah's record as #1 in job creation than slaps Mitt's Massachucetts for being #47.?
9:19 PM | Perry fires at Paul about inserting earmarks while voting against the spending bills
Paul defends himself, "I'm a Constitutionalist"
9:18 PM | Oh there's Rick Perry!
Perry tries to distance himself from the squabbling between Rick Santorum and Ron Paul. "I think you've just seen a great example of why I am in this race. Because I, with the possible exception of Jon Huntsman, am a real Washington outsider."
9:17 PM | Really an extended battle between Paul and Santorum.
"You're a big spender, that's all there is to it. You're a Big Government conservative." says Paul
"You're right Ron, I don't vote against everything." says Paul.?
9:16 PM | Paul throwing elbows.
"I hate to bring this up, but he was voted one of the most corrupt members of Congress because he took so much money from the lobbyists."
9:15 PM | Rick Santorum: "Do I Have 20 minutes to respond"
"You should know better than to cite George Soros like groups" he scolds Paul, while calling him a libertarian.?
9:13 PM | Nine minutes in before we get to Ron Paul...
Ron Paul is now trying to explain the specifics of his attack ads on Rick Santorum, but settles for just repeatedly calling him a "Big Government Conservative" and a big time "lobbyist"
9:12 PM | Romney seems to be enjoying attacks on his record on Bain.
He is previewing his general election response to Obama's Bain attacks, which is basically: "You want to put capitalism on trial? I dare you."
9:10 PM | ABC spending a lot of time on Bain Capital, now asking Huntsman to attack him
Huntsman says its "part of his record and its going to be talked about" before shifting into talking about himself.?
9:09 PM | Again the moderators stoke conflict between Romney and another candidate...
... this time Gingrich, over whether Romney is a heartless downsizing, vampiric capitalist. Romney is giving a Harlem Globetrotters like strut through stories of him of turning around companies.?
9:07 PM | And George moves onto Gingrich
... whom everyone expects to be a flaming mess tonight.?
9:06 PM | The moderators solicit a low-level conflict between Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney
Making sure that Romney is the star of the show.?
9:05 PM | Santorum says he's the best for commander in chief
Santorum says that yes he was talking about Romney!
9:04 PM | First question to Romney on new 200k jobs. Are you an optimist?
"It's not thanks to President Obama" and his "policies have made the recovery more tepid" ?
Romney took about five seconds to get into a rhythym and then he found his groove.?
9:01 PM | ABC already differing this as a Rick Santorum vs. Mitt Romney contest - with a Newt sideshow
Although we somehow doubt their claim that "all eyes are on New Hampshire"
8:59 PM | So... ABC is showing WIPEOUT before the debate.
Seems appropriate. A couple of guys falling flat on their face.?
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/liveblog-the-first-gop-debate-of-2012-live-from-new-hampshire-2012-1
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