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Reports of Gingrich behind Romney again. I really think Gingrich could have done more last night to take the thunder away from Santorum and Romney (who really blasted Gingrich early on). Apparently Gingrich later said he was so surprised by Romney's dishonesty that he didn't know how to answer until he checked the facts later to be sure.

But I think Gingrich could have really fired back and launched some spot-on points about things like the trillion-dollar deficit, less, not more, government programs, etc. I think he probably missed his queue right at the starting gate when Blitzer baited him into a swipe at Romney. In the past, Gingrich has successfully called the moderator on that kind of stuff. (He did later but not as effective.)

I'm actually wondering if Gingrich's handlers influenced him the last couple of debates to play a "prevent defense" (almost always fails) instead of putting on a full-court press (i.e. defensively keep from losing instead of offensively going all out for the win).

Hope for the best.