Here is video of one of the key exchanges in last night’s GOP Presidential Debate in Jacksonville, Florida. Rick Santorum went on the offensive against Mitt Romney where Romney is most vulnerable – on RomneyCare.

Santorum attacked Romney at length for the RomneyCare Plan put in place in Massachusetts while Romney was Governor there. Santorum attacked the Massachusetts Plan in detail, saying it will undercut Romney’s ability to go after Obama for ObamaCare if he is the nominee. After a prolonged attacked by Santorum, Romney began a rebuttal by saying, “First of all, it’s not worth getting angry about” – referring to Santorum’s penchant for appearing angry as he makes points he feels strongly about. Romney’s words are being trumpeted today by some as saying he said “ObamaCare” is not worth getting angry about. That’s not what he said. He was referring to Santorum’s tone in describing the details of the RomneyCare plan in Massachusetts.

Santorum did an outstanding job of making the case why Romney will be a weaker nominee because of his support of an individual mandate to buy health care in Massachusetts. But Romney has repeatedly said his first act as President would be to move on repealing ObamaCare. It is not right to say that he said “ObamaCare” is not worth getting angry about.

The final GOP Presidential Debate in Florida just ended, and it was a very strong night for Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.

Romney was aggressive once again, and really went after Newt Gingrich early in the debate. Gingrich again did not really seem ready for the hits and did not return fire in equal proportion to the attacks he received. Gingrich needed to land a knockout blow on Romney in this debate, and he just did not do it. He had some good moments, particularly on the need to support Israel, but he did not have a moment to help him recapture his momentum.

I thought Rick Santorum did very well, and actually put Romney on the defensive for awhile on RomneyCare. But Romney handled those attacks as well as he possibly can, and it was probably enough to keep it from doing him any serious harm in Florida. Santorum spoke very eloquently on a number of questions, and gave a great answer summing up the truth that our rights come from the “Creator” as it says in the Declaration of Independence. He further explained that Government does not exist under our Constitution to give rights to Americans, but rather to protect those God-given rights that it has no power or authority to take away.

Ron Paul had some very good moments too. He provided a good contrast to the back-and-forth between Gingrich and Romney, as did Rick Santorum.

Mitt Romney had a lot of momentum coming into this debate, and I suspect he will maintain it coming out of the debate. Gingrich did nothing to derail him, and Santorum is so far back in the polls, I doubt his strong performance here will boost him enough to give him a chance to actually win Florida. In fact, Santorum is not going to be in Florida on Election night, Tuesday, and he is not going to spend money running ads in Florida (he just said that on CNN after the debate). That does not convey that he believes he has any real chance in Florida.

If I had to give grades, I would say: Romney – A-; Santorum – A-; Paul – B; Gingrich – C. Romney and Santorum were “Winners,” Paul held his own, and Gingrich lost by not doing what he needed to do to turn the momentum in Florida.

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

Here is video from last night’s debate in Florida where Mitt Romney threw a laundry list of attacks at Newt Gingrich. He attacked Gingrich for his time as Speaker of the House. He called Gingrich a “disgrace,” and said he sees no way Republicans can retake the White House with Gingrich as the nominee. Gingrich countered by setting the record straight on his accomplishments as Speaker of the House in building a long-lasting Republican majority as compared to Romney’s tenure as Governor of Massachusetts, where he said the Republican Party did not advance in the state during his time in office.

Too early to tell how Romney’s more aggressive style in attacking Gingrich will come off to voters in Florida? Will they be impressed that he is a strong fighter, or will he just come off as desperate? We’ll see as more polls come out over the next several days.

WATCH COMPLETE VIDEO of the Debate.

The NBC GOP Presidential Debate in Florida just concluded, and it was the worst of the 18 debates held so far in this campaign cycle.

It was clear that moderator Brian Williams had one objective – Don’t ask any question that would lead the GOP Candidates to say a word about Barack Obama. It was so obvious. If a Republican President was sitting in the White House and it was a Democratic Candidate Debate, virtually every question would consist of nerf balls served up to tee off on the Republican President. But with Obama in the White House – not a single question about his policies, his actions. Only a few times did any of the candidates ignore the question to attack President Obama, which was a mistake. I thought Newt Gingrich would repeatedly make a direct line for Obama – and he did a few times – but not like I thought he would.

Mitt Romney came out attacking. In fact, it was like he wanted to dump all of his attacks in the first five minutes of the debate. He was trying to rattle Gingrich and get under his skin. Gingrich was much more subdued. I think he let Romney go on too long without interrupting him, but he never lost his temper. In fact, he was perhaps too subdued. It appeared Gingrich came into the night determined to show he could control himself under fire. Romney attacked Gingrich’s record as Speaker of the House and his work for Freddie Mac as a consultant – which Romney would rather call “influence-peddling.” His line of attack did lead Gingrich to an opportunity to say he was proud of his work in support of Medicare Part D – which could help him among the many Senior voters who live in Florida.

Rick Santorum had a good night, clearly working hard to show himself as the anti-Romney/anti-Newt candidate. Again and again he contrasted himself to both Romney and Gingrich. He had some strong answers, but not really any single moment that would really become the focus of discussion in the days ahead. Ron Paul was very much the same, setting himself apart from the other three candidates and saying pretty much what he says in every debate.

Overall, the real story out of this debate is how awful the questions were. It made for a rather boring debate that I don’t really think will have much impact on the race in Florida. Romney may have helped himself slightly, as did Santorum. But I don’t think Gingrich will really lose ground because of what happened tonight. I think Gingrich will continue to lead in Florida in the days ahead, though it may tighten slightly. Santorum could move up some, but he is a long way back. Ron Paul does not look to be playing hard in Florida, but will probably still get around 10% of the vote.

Thursday night’s debate on CNN is set up to be even more significant. It can’t be worse than the debate tonight.

GRADES: Romney – B+, Santorum – B+, Gingrich – B, Paul – B, Debate Moderators – F.

UPDATE: WATCH LIVE VIDEO of the NBC GOP Presidential Debate. It will begin at 9 PM ET.

NOTE: The GOP Debate tonight will be on NBC at 9 PM ET. It does not show up on the DirecTV listing. But if you go to the website of your local NBC station, you should see it listed in the programming schedule. It will last for 2 hours from what I can tell.

The remaining four GOP Presidential Candidates will face-off tonight in a Presidential Debate on NBC. The debate will begin at 9:00 PM ET, and will be moderated by NBC News anchor Brian Williams, along with help from National Journal, and the Tampa Bay Times.

This debate comes just two days after Newt Gingrich’s shocking victory in South Carolina by more than 12 points over Mitt Romney. The debate will be held in Florida, where the candidates are now battling eight days ahead of the Florida Primary.

Newt Gingrich had better be ready for some heavy fire from all sides – from the questioners, from Mitt Romney who is desperate to turn his fortunes around, and from Rick Santorum who needs a game-changer to replace Gingrich as the anti-Romney conservative alternative. But as he did twice last week, Gingrich can take the attacks and turn them into positives by attacking the media or the Left. I would look for Gingrich to try and sound like the settled conservative choice to take on Barack Obama. Look for him to launch direct sound-bite attacks on Barack Obama and the Left, the way he has done against the media in past debates.

Romney will go after Gingrich on Freddie Mac, on his ethics while in Congress, and on Gingrich’s stability. Romney will portray Gingrich as too volatile and unstable for Republicans to take a chance on him.

Santorum will attack both Romney and Gingrich as “not true conservatives,” and will continue to tout his victory in Iowa (by 34 votes) and say that only he can win in blue states like Pennsylvania.

Ron Paul will hammer on his themes of cutting the budget by $1 Trillion in his first year as President. He may face some tough questions about his newsletters and questions on whether his candidacy is really about winning or just a protest movement.

It will be fascinating to see if Gingrich can withstand all the fire that will come his way and keep his momentum going.

In case you missed it, here is complete video of last night’s CNN GOP Presidential Debate in Charleston, South Carolina.