The debate winner(s) and loser ...

Not a great week for the Debate Champion. Applause was included last night, but Gingrich's debate performance was pretty close to Monday night; he simply failed to knock it out of the hall. Even worse for him, Mitt Romney's new debate coach needs a raise, because he did a much better job than usual, but Rick Santorum also had his best night ever. He launched the strongest, most cohesive attack on RomneyCare yet, including attacks on Gingrich for supporting an individual mandate for more than 20 years. He urged voters not to give the issue up in a race against President Obama. Finally, his description of why his wife, Karen, would make such a great first lady was incredibly moving — if you didn't watch it, you should look it up.

If you are a conservative worried about Romney's core principles, and worried as well about Gingrich's lack of discipline and loads of baggage, Santorum looks appealing enough. Just as Santorum outperformed the polling he got before Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, he is likely to do better in Florida than people think he will.

Romney is climbing back in Florida polls but isn't out of the political woods by any stretch. Even though his surge has cooled, Gingrich's crowds are enormous by any standard, numbering sometimes in the thousands. Romney is trying to convince wavering Republicans he has the fight in him to beat Obama this fall, despite his initially weak responses to criticism of his record at Bain Capital and the revelation of his 15 percent tax rate. Though he fared better with both responses in the CNN debate Thursday, Romney continues to pretend he doesn't know what the contents of his attack ads are, and clearly, if his campaign was completely disconnected from his super-PAC, they woudn't be confusing the material in separate ads.

But what Romney has going for him is that Gingrich continues to frighten Republicans who know him best and worked with him in Washington. After he won South Carolina in a blowout the knives came out. Will the attacks help turn the tide before Tuesday and help Romney win Florida? The most interesting was not just the unearthing of all the bad things Gingrich had actually said about Ronald Reagan, whose name he invokes repeatedly at every debate and campaign appearance, but the examples of how Gingrich abandons conservative principles when it is convenient. The Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin noted Gingrich attacking the Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) Medicare plan last spring and also how just this week Gingrich said about Romney, "You have to live in a world of Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island accounts and making $20 million for no work, to have some fantasy this far from reality." Rubin wrote that "not even the most egregious Gingrich apologists can characterize this as anything other than a leftist attack on free-market capitalism."

Gingrich's criticism of Romney other-ness, and out-of-touchness, and his record as a Massachusetts moderate, has worked so far with Tea Party Republicans, evangelical Republicans and those who consider themselves true conservatives. If it works through Tuesday, Romney is in serious trouble. But if he won voters over with his strong debate performance Thursday, Romney is likely to take Florida and find it easier to shake Gingrich in the weeks to come.


MITT & NEWT BOTH HANG ON AFTER FLORIDA. SO DOES IT MATTER WHO WINS TUESDAY? Ask A.B. returns Tuesday, Jan. 31. Please join my weekly video Q&A by sending your questions and comments to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Thank you.

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