While Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s challenge to Rick Perry for a $10,000 bet seemed like a throwaway line in the last debate, The Hill sees it as emblematic of a cracking of Romney’s previously impenetrable veneer. ....Some GOP heavyweights are surprised that Gingrich has been able to rattle Romney. “I admit, it’s shocking. They’re thrown a little bit,” a Republican strategist told The Hill. “The entire strategy of the campaign has been steady, steady. Let everyone come up and down around you, and when the dust settles, the steady candidate wins. Now it’s settled, and it’s not the case.”...