Saturday night's debate among the Republican candidates for president came and went without appearing to make too much impact on the outcome of Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, according to the Washington Post. Front-runner Mitt Romney focused most of his efforts on arguing against the policies of President Barack Obama, while the rest of the candidates turned their attention towards each other, in an effort to eke out what is increasingly looking to be a second place finish in New Hampshire.
Here are some of the noteworthy details of this first of two Republican debates ahead of the New Hampshire primary.
* Romney is enjoying a comfortable lead in the polls leading up to the New Hampshire primary, garnering approximately double the likely votes of his nearest rival, Ron Paul.
* Consequently, Paul appeared to be in attack mode much of the night, both disparaging his fellow candidates' records and pointing out his second-place position in the polls as a sign of his increasing strength as a candidate.
* One of the more damaging dust-ups of the night, according to the Los Angeles Times, was the argument between Paul and Newt Gingrich, when a previous comment that Paul had made about Gingrich's lack of military service was brought to the fore. Paul reportedly has referred to Gingrich in the past as a "chicken hawk" for not serving in Vietnam, an assertion he firmly stood by when given the opportunity to explain the comment during Saturday's debate.
* Romney was hardly exempt from criticism, as Rick Santorum challenged his record as a businessman, as reported by Fox News, and implied that business experience would not be of use in a president. Santorum finished second to Romney at the Iowa Caucus last week by just eight votes.
* The Wall Street Journal maintained after the debate that attempts to discredit Romney by the other candidates were largely unsuccessful, and unlikely to influence the outcome of the New Hampshire primary, or even possibly the South Carolina primary, which is next in line. Romney has a lead in the polls in that state at the moment as well.
* At least two of the candidates, Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman, after each receiving a low percentage of the total votes in Iowa last week, find themselves in the unenviable position of having to make a strong showing in New Hampshire in order to justify continuing forward with their campaigns. Huntsman in particular has pinned all his ambitions on Tuesday's primary, according to the New York Times.
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