MANCHESTER, N.H. — Early on in the debate, Newt Gingrich, who had spent the past week vowing that he would attack GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney for being a “Massachusetts Moderate,” was asked if he stood by an ad his supporters took out attacking Romney’s experience at Bain Capital.
Gingrich didn’t distance himself from the ad, but he said that viewers should check out a New York Times story and decide for themselves. It was a puzzling decision to cite the Times when trying to make a case to conservatives — given that the newspaper is viewed on the right as the ultimate symbol of the liberal media. Romney was able to swat it away, and sustained little damage in the rest of the debate.
Most of the debate was a continuation of what we’ve seen throughout this primary race — candidates attack each other without going after Romney. This was true as Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex., went after Ginrgrich for not having served in the military and Rick Santorum, for being a big government Republican.
Santorum did have a fine debate, but he didn’t do anything to create any real doubts that Romney would be the nominee or to emerge as a strong conservative challenger. In a sign of Romney’s growing confidence, when Santorum finally did unleash an attack on Romney, the former Massachusetts governor pivoted without responding to Santorum directly.
Much of the rest of the debate was filled with pointless discussions, such as whether a state had the right to ban contraception — a question that Romney directly, and strongly, challenged as stupid.
As wrestler Ric Flair used to say, “To be the man, you gotta beat the man!” Right now, Romney is the man, and none of his rivals seem to have much interest in challenging him.
