Where to Watch Final Florida GOP Debate?
The last Republican debate before the all-important Florida primary takes place tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
The debate is set up in the very heart of Jacksonville, Florida, on the University of North Florida's campus. It will air on CNN and can also be watched live on CNN.com.
The event, which is sponsored by CNN, the Republican Party of Florida and the Hispanic Leadership Network, will be hosted by Wolf Blitzer of "The Situation Room." Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul are all scheduled to participate.
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This debate will be the last until the Florida primary, which is just five days away. After this, one candidate could gain major momentum, which means the field could be considerably narrowed.
And the contest is heating up.
Only hours before the candidates face off in a verbal sparring match of ideas, Newt Gingrich- by some accounts, only behind the current frontrunner by a several-point margin- has come out swinging at his main rival, Mitt Romney.
"Many of you have probably notice a number of attack ads and all sorts of junk, and that's what it is," the former Speaker told Floridians in Mount Dora today. "This is the desperate last stand of the old order throwing the kitchen sink, hoping something sticks."
Gingrich's constant effort to paint himself as the anti-establishment candidate must succeed to catch Romney, who is about eight points ahead in the polls.
Although Romney hasn't come out particularly strong against Gingrich, Bob Dole, one of the businessman's strong supporters, has.
Dole called Gingrich a "one-man-band who rarely took advice" in comments Thursday. For the former Kansas senator, Democrats are "hoping Gingrich will be the nominee" because he has less of a chance to beat the President than the more-moderate Romney.
Although the Georgia historian has declined in the polls in the last few days following a surprising upset in South Carolina, he still poses a threat to Romney, who many felt was the eventual nominee.
"Newt Gingrich keeps rising from the grave every few weeks to challenge him," Alex Castellanos, a GOP strategist, told CNN. "And every time he does, he's a little harder to dispatch."
