Mitt Romney has strengthened his position in the polls since winning in New Hampshire and is set to pull off a win in socially conservative South Carolina despite the religious Family Research Council’s support of Rick Santorum. Super PAC ads vilifying his time at Bain Capitol have both helped and hurt Romney’s campaign as a recent poll showed that voters are split over whether his time with the venture capitol firm would make them more or less likely to vote for him.

Jon Huntsman has dropped out of the race after a disappointing finish in the granite state despite focusing all of his efforts there.

Newt Gingrich and Santorum may be switching places according to a recent Fox News poll. In nationwide surveys, Santorum has pushed into second while Newt has dropped to  third. Ron Paul is holding on to fourth with Rick Perry bringing up the rear.

Tonight’s debate will be a key point for Rick Santorum’s campaign. Anti-capitalist rhetoric coming from Gingrich and Perry the last week has left Santorum an opening to establish himself as the Conservative alternative to Mitt Romney.

Ron Paul is holding on to his support from die hard Paul followers and some moderates, but his campaign is struggling to grow a base due to his foreign policy stances and ineffective messaging.

Who will be at the debate:

Bret Baier of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal’s Gerald Seib will moderate the debate.

• Candidates:
• Newt Gingrich
• Ron Paul
• Rick Perry
• Mitt Romney
• Rick Santorum

Where to watch:

• Cable: Fox News
• Internet: FoxNews.com
• CDN Live stream

Poll: Who Won the Debate?

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Full Video

The event was sponsored by the Michigan Republican Party, Oakland University and CNBC.

Attendees included Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, John Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum in another heavily-moderated game show-style format.

The focus of the debate was “jobs, taxes, the deficit and the health of our national economy”, and was moderated by Maria Bartiromo and John Harwood from CNBC. The panel also included Rick Santelli, Sharon Epperson, and Jim Cramer all from the CNBC network.

The twitter hashtag for the debate is  #cnbcdebate

Also of interest:

• Full Republican Candidate Debate Schedule
• Presidential Debate Schedule
• Primary/Caucus Schedule

Part Two:

Part Three:

Last night, October 11th, the remaining field of GOP candidates faced-off in a Republican Presidential Debate. The event was held in Hanover, New Hampshire at Dartmouth College.

Participating was Representative Michele Bachmann , Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, former Governor Jon Huntsman, Rep. Ron Paul, Governor Rick Perry, former Governor Mitt Romney and former Senator Rick Santorum.

Host of the PBS television program named after him, Charlie Rose was the moderator. Joining Mr. Rose to ask questions of the candidates was Karen Tumulty from the Washington Post and Julianna Goldman from Bloomberg TV.

The debate featured a round table format. Candidates were seated next to each other as they explained their stances on a single topic – the economy. The debate addressed the economy in the areas of jobs, taxes, deficit and future growth.

If you’re on twitter, you can tweet your observations and read those of others by searching for the official debate hashtag: #econdebate.

The Videos

Here’s the 100 second recap of the debate thanks to TPM:

The full debate from Bloomberg.com

And.. The Washington Post Recap of the debate:

Who do you think won the debate:

[poll id = "30"]

Next GOP Debate: October 18th, 2011

Full Schedule of GOP Debates

Attendees were:

• Michele Bachmann
• Herman Cain
• Newt Gingrich
• Jon Huntsman
• Ron Paul
• Gary Johnson
• Mitt Romney
• Rick Santorum
• Rick Perry

In case you missed it, here’s the full length video of the debate: