Tuesday's GOP debate: 5 things to watch for




By ALEXANDER BURNS | 11/22/11 4:37 AM EST

The Republican candidates debating Tuesday night can likely agree on one thing: Foreign policy isn’t going to decide the 2012 presidential race.

But each of the eight debaters will still have something at stake when they take the stage in Washington for the CNN-hosted 11th debate of the year.

For the candidates atop the polls – Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich – the debate is an opportunity to let voters imagine them in the White House Situation Room as commander-in-chief. For Jon Huntsman, it’s a chance to showcase his diplomatic bona fides.For underdog conservatives, such as Rick Perry, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann, the debate provides an opening to ask Republican voters for another shot at looking presidential.

And for Herman Cain, the second consecutive forum focused on national security and foreign affairs is another chance to outline a position on Libya – perhaps with fewer distractions twirling around in his head.


The fact that the debate is taking place in the shadow of the so-called super committee’s collapse, with huge, automatic defense cuts looming in the near future, adds some urgency to the event. As the Republican presidential field prepares for yet another primetime bout, here are the top five dynamics POLITICO will be watching for:

Can Newt Gingrich perform as a frontrunner?

Debate season has been friendly to Gingrich – very, very friendly. The former speaker of the House has gone from a non-factor in the 2012 race to a leader in the polls chiefly on the strength of his debate performances.

There’s going to be a different standard for Gingrich’s performance now that he’s more than a marginal candidate. And his typical formula of attacking the moderator and disputing the premise of virtually every question may not be enough to sustain his position in the polls.

Gingrich has to do more Tuesday night than entertain a conservative audience; he has to look and sound like a president.

Longtime Gingrich-watchers say that the subject matter of the debate plays to his strengths. With the exception of Huntsman and perhaps the well-studied Romney, Gingrich has simply been immersed in security and foreign policy issues more extensively than any of his opponents.

“If they asked Newt whether he agreed with President Obama on Libya, the 11 minutes would not be stunned silence, but 150 examples of what he would have done differently,â€