Biggest Elephant at GOP Debate Might Be the One Not (Yet?) in the Room

Tonight's GOP debate on CNN could prove crucial for several of the Republican candidates and potential candidates in a still-roiled, still-early race for their party’s nomination to attempt to unseat President Obama in 2012.

Michelle Bachmann, the Tea Party favorite from Minnesota, will make her national debut as a 2012 contender on the stage in Manchester, NH. As the front-runner so far, Mitt Romney will be under pressure not to hurt himself. Newt Gingrich will stop in New Hampshire on Redemption Road. And former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty simply will be trying to get more traction.

Sarah Palin won’t be on the GOP-candidate stage tonight, and perhaps never. But her long “non-candidate” campaigning, and national media attention as the outspoken former governor of Alaska, leave her as a looming presence over the debate nonetheless. You can betcha that if she finally decides to leap into the fray, the post-debate dynamics will be upset.Continue reading...