We got more tussle, as my Examiner colleague Philip Klein points out, and a whole bunch of dumb questions in the Meet the Press/NBC/Facebook/Union Leader/Channel 7 debate (are these things improved by having more sponsors? No) this morning.

Newt Gingrich attacked Mitt Romney for his allegedly moderate and timid record as governor of Massachusetts, which gave Romney an opportunity to describe that record in favorable terms. Rick Santorum and Gingrich raked Romney over the coals for saying that he was not interested in a political career when in fact he spent his last year as governor preparing to launch his 2008 presidential campaign; Gingrich said it was “pious baloney” to say he was not interested in political advancement. I thought they scored some points here, although Romney seemed to have a practiced answer with some interesting nuggets (can he back up his claim he told his Bain partners he’d be back in six months after the 1994 Senate campaign?) and some anti-politician proposals (term limits for members of Congress). Gingrich also got in a plug for his superPAC’s 27-minute video about Romney’s career at Bain & Company, but surely lost some points with many conservatives when he cited in support of its or his own criticisms the New York Times and the Washington Post. Jon Huntsman took on Romney for his criticism of Huntsman for accepting Barack Obama’s appointment as ambassador to China. Huntsman got some applause—he seemed to have a lot of fans in the hall—for his defense of this as public service. This was probably Huntsman’s strongest moment—though he came across as angry and scolding, not the best vote-winning persona except for those who basically don’t like Republicans.