December 11, 2011 03:47 AM UTC

Newt Has Not Yet Begun To Fight (GOP Debate Open Thread)

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

A fire-belly newt meets the establishment.

ABC News:

Only three weeks from the Iowa caucuses, the top Republican candidates will square off tonight at a pivotal debate in the state capital. The debate, hosted by ABC News and moderated by Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos, starts at 9pm ET, live from Drake University.

The prime-time debate comes as the GOP race has started to reach a boiling point. With Newt Gingrich surging to the top of the pack, former front-runner Mitt Romney has launched scathing attacks from all sides, from his key surrogates to a political action committee that, while not affiliated with the campaign, is funded by many Romney donors.

The ad accuses Gingrich of “flip flopping” on a slew of issues and claims that Democrats are hoping that the former House Speaker – rather than Romney – secures the Republican nomination. With a picture of President Obama on the screen, the ad asks, “Why is this man smiling?” The answer: “Because his plan is working,” the ad’s narrator says. “Brutally attack Mitt Romney and hope Newt Gingrich is his opponent.”

All of the GOP also-rans, along with erstwhile frontrunner Mitt Romney, are expected to direct their fire at Newt Gingrich tonight–naturally, it will be very interesting to see if one of them goes rogue and does not, since that strategy pretty much services Romney. The difference between Gingrich and previous recipients of the upstart dogpile, like Rick Perry and now-departed Herman Cain, is that Gingrich is quite capable of articulately firing right back.

Bottom line: even if the Colorado GOP brass is right–and we’d say they are–that “Newtmentum” is just another round of unelectable folly, as he’s about to demonstrate, he’s no Herman Cain.