DES MOINES — Newt Gingrich knows that as the frontrunner he’ll be the target of several attacks at tonight’s Republican presidential debate at Drake University here in Des Moines. So he has been reading about how Ronald Reagan handled attacks in debates throughout his career.

In the last couple of days, Gingrich asked aides for transcripts of three Reagan debates.  The first was a little-remembered May 15, 1967 debate between Reagan, at the time the new governor of California, and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.  The subject was Vietnam, and both Reagan and Kennedy faced hostile questions from a young audience.  According to an account in National Review, Reagan biographer Joseph Lewis wrote that Reagan “talked easily and precisely without a hint of uncertainty or hostility,” in the face of challenging questions — in contrast to Kennedy, whom Lewis said seemed “deflated” and “anguished.”  After the debate, the relaxed Reagan was viewed as the clear winner.