Last Republican Debate Tonight

UPDATE: Who Won The Republican Debate Last Night?

The final Iowa GOP Presidential Primary debate before the January 3, 2012 Iowa Caucus will be held tonight at 9 PM EST in Sioux City, Iowa.

Fox News will host and air the GOP Primary debate which will include the top three Iowa contenders Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, and Mitt Romney along with trailing single-digit candidates Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Jon Huntsman.

The debate comes on the heels of Christine O'Donnel's strange "He's consistent once he has changed his mind" endorsement of Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.  Gingrich and Romney have already traded jabs indirectly with one another as to who has flip-flopped more during their respective political careers.

Tonight's debate should be different than prior debates, in that Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney will have to go on the attack against Texas Congressman Ron Paul who has a good chance of winning the Iowa Caucus.

While many supporters of the top three candidates wonder why the single-digit candidates continue to run, the lesser candidates have made past debates a little more interesting.

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann can be expected to hammer again on the term 'NewtRomney' which implies that New Gingrich and Mitt Romney are one-in-the-same political insiders corrupted by monied politics.

Texas Governor Rick Perry has demonstrated in past debates that, instead of throwing a curve ball, he actually IS the curve ball.

Although Rick Perry doesn't add much to the substantive issues of the debates, he certainly provides entertainment and material for political commentators and comedians.

While Perry didn't have any major goofs in the last GOP debate, he unwittingly opened a door where Mitt Romney pulled himself down in the polls with the now infamous $10,000 bet.

Romney's bet has heightened the issue that both Romney and Gingrich are high-rolling beneficiaries of morally ill-gotten gains.  Each have indirectly challenged the other to return money that Romney received through the raiding of companies on Wall Street and that Gingrich return the money he received from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for political influence peddling.

Rick Santorum, the most socially conservative of the candidates, will probably bring up Newt Gingrich's adulterous past during the debate.

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