Preview of Tonight’s ABC News GOP Presidential Debate in New Hampshire – 1/7/12

PHOTO: Via CBS News

NOTE: Watch a Live Video Feed of tonight’s ABC News GOP Presidential Debate.

The remaining six GOP Presidential Candidates will square off tonight (9-11 PM ET on ABC) in a crucial debate from New Hampshire, just three days before the January 10 New Hampshire Primary. The debate is likely to be explosive, with desperate candidates knowing time is very short to turn the dynamics of the race around:

ABC NEWS – The Note: With the race for the Republican presidential nomination at its most critical moment to date, only days before the crucial New Hampshire primary, the six candidates will square off Saturday night in Manchester at an ABC News/Yahoo! News/WMUR debate that has the potential to be the most explosive one yet.

The debate, the only broadcast network debate in prime-time before the primary, will air from 9-11 p.m. ET from Saint Anselm College, where it will be moderated by ABC News’ Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos, as well as WMUR-TV anchor Josh McElveen.

For every candidate, there is a lot at stake.

Fresh off his narrow eight-vote victory in the Iowa caucuses, Mitt Romney is the favorite to win the nation’s first primary on Tuesday. A resounding win in New Hampshire would leave Romney poised to run away with his party’s nomination with the primary season only just begun. The former Massachusetts governor has held massive leads in New Hampshire polls throughout the past six months, and he also sits atop the polls in South Carolina, where the race heads next. Convincing wins in both states would make Romney almost unstoppable before the race has even hit Florida in late January.

That only increases the odds that Romney will face a slew of attacks from his rivals at the debate.

Rick Santorum, riding a wave of momentum after his virtual tie with Romney in Iowa, comes into the debate with much to prove. The former Pennsylvania senator was almost an afterthought for much of last year, buried in the polls, but he surged to the forefront in Iowa.

Now the question is whether or not Santorum can survive in the spotlight and avoid the same fates that have befallen the other candidates who have attempted to emerge as the chief alternative to Romney. Just ask Rick Perry, Herman Cain, and Newt Gingrich. All three enjoyed stints atop the polls only to then plunge back into the pack. . . . Read More

Expect Jon Huntsman to try to savage Mitt Romney. Huntsman has staked everything on doing well in New Hampshire. In fact, he vowed he would win the state. If Romney wins big, Huntsman’s campaign is over – and he knows it.

You can also expect Newt Gingrich to try and destroy Mitt Romney. This is the first debate since Gingrich was pummeled in Iowa by relentless attack ads from pro-Romney groups. Gingrich’s mood has soured, and he sounds like a candidate who has decided if he can’t win the GOP Nomination, he’s going to make sure Romney doesn’t win either.

Romney will also likely face fire from Rick Santorum, who will probably not be as aggressive as Gingrich and Huntsman, but will stake out the ground as the genuine conservative in the race. Romney has to be careful not to lose his cool, responding with humor and examples where his opponents have not been sterling either. Gingrich will be the easiest to do that to, with his Paul Ryan comments and his Nancy Pelosi “Global Warming” commercial.

There is also likely to be real fireworks between Ron Paul and Rick Santorum. Paul has been hammering Santorum with attack ads, calling him “corrupt” and saying he is guilty of “serial hypocrisy.” If Paul repeats those lines of attack tonight, expect Santorum to hit back hard at Paul on his Foreign Policy views.

It will be interesting to see what Rick Perry does in this debate. If he can somehow pull out a good performance, he could still be a factor in South Carolina – not necessarily to win there, but to take enough votes away from Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich to help Mitt Romney pull it out. Since the pool of potential Perry voters will come, not from Romney supporters, I would expect Perry to go after Santorum and Gingrich.

Rick Santorum has the current momentum, and he needs to keep it going with this debate performance. If he can, he just might come away with a strong enough finish in New Hampshire to be the story once again, even though Romney wins.

There will be another GOP Presidential Debate of sorts as the candidates appear on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” just hours after this debate is over. We’ll have analysis on the “winners and losers” of tonight’s debate after it is over, as well as video once it becomes available.