We Need More Debates— and Loud Ones

Santorum's on the hot seat, Romney's back is to the wall, Gingrich needs a comeback

(NEWSER) - It's been a while, but America's favorite political game show is back. Yes, the Republican presidential candidates will square off in Mesa tonight for their first debate in nearly a month. Here are the storylines in play:

• The final showdown—The stakes are "about as high as they could be," the Washington Post observes, because this might be the last debate of the GOP primary, and certainly the last before Super Tuesday. And since losses in Arizona and Michigan could be fatal for Mitt Romney's campaign, he has to perform tonight.

Polls show Romney may have stopped his momentum ahead of CNN Florida debate

(NEWSER) - The GOP field will have its last debate before the Florida primary tonight, and it just might be a doozy. Here's why:

• Newt Gingrich's polling advantage may have vanished. The latest CNN poll has Mitt Romney at 36% and Gingrich at 34%, a statistical tie, and a far cry from some of Gingrich's earlier numbers.
• Nate Silver says his statistical model now rates Gingrich's chance of victory at 60%—a huge dip from the 75% it predicted yesterday . But looking at polling trends, Silver thinks Romney might actually be a slight favorite.

When he'll most likely have clinched the nomination

(NEWSER) - Calm down, everyone. Mitt Romney will release his tax returns … just as soon as he has clinched the GOP nomination. "If I become our nominee, and what's happened in history is people have released them in about April of the coming year and that's probably what I would do," he said at last night's South Carolina debate . The presidential race will likely be decided by then, USA Today notes. As for the records, "I have nothing in them that suggests there's any problem and I'm happy to do so. I sort of feel like we are showing a lot of exposure at this point," Romney said. More»

GOP hopefuls again face off in New Hampshire debate on 'Meet the Press'

(NEWSER) - A scant 12 hours after last night's debate in which Mitt Romney emerged largely unscathed , the Republicans who would be president are again facing off in New Hampshire, this time on Meet the Press with David Gregory moderating. Newt Gingrich answered the overriding question of whether the pack would again let Romney skate , Politico reports, drawing first blood by calling the frontrunner a "relatively timid Massachusetts moderate who even the Wall Street Journal said had an economic plan so timid it resembled Obama.” More»

Cain needs more substance; Perry just needs a better performance: Politico

(NEWSER) - Tonight’s GOP debate—the last one for three weeks—is one of the few remaining chances for the Republican presidential candidates to change the opinions (for better or worse) of millions of TV viewers before Iowa’s Jan. 3 caucuses . With that in mind, Maggie Haberman offers some advice to the candidates, via Politico :

• Hermain Cain: He’s sitting pretty right now, but he needs to prove he deserves to be on top. Cain doesn't exactly hit the ball out of the park when discussing his 9-9-9 plan , but "given his foreign policy weaknesses and his inability to correctly identify a 'neocon' to [David] Gregory, he may want to avoid talking about anything other than '9-9-9.'"
• Rick Perry: He needs to stop giving canned answers, and keep Mitt Romney from turning all of his attacks back on him. But mostly, “he needs to avoid seeming like the Rick Perry of the last four debates, and more like the confident version who took the stage for the first half-hour at the Reagan Presidential Library face-off.”