With at least 1 in 3 New Hampshire voters undecided ahead of Tuesday's first-in-the-nation GOP presidential primary, back-to-back debates this weekend could provide opportunity for the emergence of a clear alternative to front-runner Mitt Romney.
The former governor of Massachusetts comes into Saturday night’s debate with a lead of at least 20 percentage points – and a target on his back
so does former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who in an 11th-hour surge fell nine votes short of winning the Iowa caucuses but who is only beginning to face the withering fire rivals dish out to front-runners. He can probably expect to see more of that in a nationally televised debate Saturday night and in a second matchup Sunday morning.
“The first rule in any debate is to do no harm,” says Tom Rath, a senior Romney campaign adviser in New Hampshire. Mr. Romney, who has built his campaign around jobs and the economy, can be expected to stick to those themes. “He is not going to get an answer wrong,” says Mr. Rath. “This state knows him so well.”
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