Previewing the CNN GOP Presidential Debate in Jacksonville, Florida – 1/26/12

The four remaining GOP Presidential Candidates will meet in the 19th debate of this campaign tonight on CNN. The debate will begin at 8 PM ET at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

This debate comes as Mitt Romney has once again seized the lead in Florida, following a strong debate performance this past Monday in which he came out very aggressive against Newt Gingrich. The contrast was even starker because Gingrich was far more subdued and passive in the debate, allowing Romney’s attack on him to go unanswered for a long period of time. This debate will be the last one for several weeks, making the impressions made tonight very important.

Gingrich must regain the momentum by being more aggressive and refusing to let Romney put him on the defense. Romney simply needs to do again tonight what he did Monday night, so expect him to go after Gingrich and perhaps President Obama very strongly.

The challenge for Rick Santorum and Ron Paul is to not seem marginalized and out of the running in the nomination race. Santorum’s poll numbers have really dropped, and he needs to make it clear he still viable as a candidate. I would expect him to go after both Romney and Gingrich – but especially Gingrich so that he can become the conservative alternative to Romney.

CNN: Newt Gingrich lashed out at Mitt Romney Thursday, accusing his Republican presidential opponent of engaging in sleazy negative politics and being part of a fragile establishment desperate to stop the former House speaker from winning the GOP nomination.

Gingrich’s attack came hours before the final Florida GOP primary debate, to be held at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. The debate is being hosted by CNN, the Republican Party of Florida and the Hispanic Leadership Network, a center-right advocacy group.

“Many of you have probably noticed a number of attack ads and all sorts of junk, and that’s what it is,” Gingrich told a crowd in Mount Dora. “This is the desperate last stand of the old order throwing the kitchen sink, hoping something sticks.”

They’re trying to “drown us in enough mud, raised with money from companies and people who foreclosed on Floridians,” Gingrich claimed. “Remember the Republican establishment is just as much as an establishment as the Democratic establishment, and they are just as determined to stop us. … This is a campaign for the very nature of the Republican Party and the very opportunity for a citizen conservatism to defeat the power of money and to prove that people matter more than Wall Street.”

Romney told a group in Jacksonville he will focus Thursday night on President Barack Obama, though he acknowledged that Gingrich’s history might be a subject as well. . . . Read More