The two debates in the next 12 hours are supposed to offer what we've been waiting for all year: the Not Mitt Romney candidates attacking Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry (L-R)... (Associated Press) 
 
 Former Utah Gov. The debate at Saint Anselm College was the first in more than three weeks, and the first since Bachmann dropped out of the race. In December, 78 percent of Americans said they supported President Obama's decision to pull the last troops out of Iraq. Which war have Americans forgotten about: the war in Afghanistan or the war on Christmas? Gingrich was fourth in Iowa, Perry fifth and Minnesota rep. Michele Bachmann, who has since quit the race, was last. The intramural skirmishes reflected the state of the race _ Romney the acknowledged front-runner under attack from his rivals, who face an increasingly urgent need to emerge as his main conservative challenger. Jon Huntsman dismissed much the back-and-forth as "insider gobbledygook ... a lot of political spin," saying he would focus on more important questions such as national security. Unruffled, the former Massachusetts governor retorted that Bain had created 100,000 jobs on balance, and that a businessman's experience was far better to fix the economy that a lifetime spent in Washington, D.C. "I'm very proud of the fact that the two enterprises I led were successful," he said, referring to Bain and another firm. He says people should look at Romney's experience at Bain Capital, and whether people were better off after he took over the companies they worked for. Santorum finished a close second to Romney in Iowa this week, with Paul coming in third. The former Massachusetts governor won an eight-vote victory in the Iowa caucuses last Tuesday and is far ahead in the pre-primary polls in New Hampshire. Santorum replied instantly: "It knows you're not telling the truth."
– Mitt Romney was supposed to be the prime target at tonight's ABC debate, but it didn't quite work out that way, writes Steve Peoples at AP. His rivals took some shots at him but squabbled among each other just as often. Romney, for his part, focused most of his fire at President Obama. ("His policies have made the recovery more tepid.") Romney "never appeared flustered," writes Michael D. Shear at the New York Times, and his display of "perfect calm" was tailor-made for a front-runner. "Shots so not fired," adds Elspeth Reeve at the Atlantic blog. Some notable moments: Paul-Santorum: Ron Paul accused Rick Santorum of being a "big-government person" who also was "corrupt" for taking lobbyists' money. Santorum called the corruption charge "ridiculous" and said his record was "pretty darn good." Santorum-Romney: Santorum called Romney a manager, not a leader. "Being a president is not a CEO. You've got to lead and inspire," he said. Romney also had to defend his work years ago at Bain Capital and said he helped create 100,000 jobs overall while there. (That's a tricky figure to verify, notes the Times.) Santorum-Romney II: Santorum called Romney's economic plan "not particularly bold," reports the Washington Post. He also objected to the term "middle class," saying, “There are no classes in America. We are a country that (doesn’t) allow for titles. ... That’s not the language that I’ll use as president. I’ll use the language of bringing people together.” Paul-Gingrich: Newt Gingrich bristled at an accusation from Paul that he took a deferment to avoid war. He said he was married with a child at the time. Paul followed up: "I was married and I had two kids and I went." Romney joke: "Contraception? It's working just fine. Leave it alone." Perry-Huntsman: Jon Huntsman called for bringing home US troops from Afghanistan and elsewhere, while Rick Perry said he would return them to Iraq as fast as possible.