Tonight is the first debate after for­mer House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s dozen-​​point win over for­mer Mass­a­chu­setts Gov­er­nor Mitt Rom­ney in South Car­olina. This debate, hosted by MSNBC, NBC News, National Jour­nal, Tampa Bay Times, and the Florida Coun­cil of 100, will be held at the Uni­ver­sity of South Florida in Tampa. It will be broad­cast on NBC start­ing at 9:00PM EST (6:00PM PST).

Despite ear­lier state­ments from Mitt Rom­ney, he will be in atten­dance. We still have four can­di­dates, but only two of them have a rea­son­able chance of win­ning Florida.

“But, on the other hand, I have five fingers.”

 

For­mer House Speaker Newt Gingrich

Gin­grich has pulled into the lead in the lat­est Florida polls. And he’s found his debate rhythm. We should expect him to be his usual Newty self, but will that help him keep his lead?

“I have five fin­gers too, see? One, two three four…”

 

For­mer Mass­a­chu­setts Gov­er­nor Mitt Romney

Now that his inevitabil­ity is not so inevitable, what will Rom­ney do tonight to come out fight­ing? Or has he writ­ten Florida off already?

“Who cares about fin­gers? It’s just a dis­trac­tion from the real issues.”

 

Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Ron Paul (R-​​Lake Jack­son, TX)

Now that Gin­grich has snatched defeat from the jaws of Romney’s vic­tory, Ron Paul has a chance to step in and work a bro­kered con­ven­tion. What might he do tonight to help that cause?

“Look for your­self. I have fin­gers, too!”

For­mer Sen­a­tor Rick San­to­rum (R-​​PA)

San­to­rum also has lit­tle hope beyond a bro­kered con­ven­tion. For­tu­nately for him, he has the bless­ing of the evan­ge­lis­tic reli­gious lead­ers. Pre­sum­ably, that means he really has to appeal to them, rather than to Florida vot­ers, if he wants to stand a chance at a bro­kered convention.

So what do you expect tonight? And what should be tonight’s drink­ing phrases?

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