[apillar]

Because he knows he would get his a$$ handed to him. Romney is not a bad debater, but Gingrich has been, by far the most capable debater since the first debate. Despite his "baggage" he is quite adept at thinking on his feet.

I'm guess the Romney camp plans to use the tactic that worked so well for them on other candidates. That is to ignore them in public, and turn the smear machine into high gear behind the scenes.

[b9]

Baggage? Wild oats sown by a war-horse.

[vekzen]

“I’m guess the Romney camp plans to use the tactic that worked so well for them on other candidates. That is to ignore them in public, and turn the smear machine into high gear behind the scenes”

That’s my opinion too. Romney trashed Sarah behind the scenes and may be behind the Cain smears. Guessing his back ops will go after Newt big time now and try to label newt as unstable, mean-spirited, philanderer, etc. etc. Or, they may think Newt is so strong and well-known that they’ll need something real big to knock him out. They could be concocting some sort of major dirt to release around the holidays.

[hinckley buzzard]

I would have liked to have seen this debate. Romney is a smooth talker and pretty tenacious. It would have been a great battle of wits. Not surprised Romney ducked it. However, if Gingrich opens some distance in the Next week, Romney may want to reconsider.