GOP debate tonight on ABC; Sunday morning on NBC/Facebook

As the nomination process heats up heading into New Hampshire's primary, tonight's GOP debate is sure to be watched by many political junkies and operatives as well as a curious public that may be starting to pay more attention to the process.

Tune into ABC from 9-11:00 pm to hear Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, and Jon Huntsman. Michele Bachmann dropped out after a poor showing in the Iowa primary earlier this week.

The latest polls showed that Romney appeared to be widening his lead over the other candidates.

Suffolk University Poll:
- Mitt Romney 40%
- Ron Paul 17%
- Rick Santorum 11%
- Newt Gingrich 9%
- Jon Huntsman 8%
- Rick Perry 1%

University of New Hampshire Survey Center Poll:
- Mitt Romney 44%
- Ron Paul 20%
- Newt Gingrich 8%
- Rick Santorum 8%
- Jon Huntsman 7%

NBC News/Marist Poll:
- Mitt Romney 42%
- Ron Paul 22%
- Rick Santorum 13%
- Newt Gingrich 9%
- Jon Huntsman 9%

The National Journal, studying the polls, wrote:

The three polls all show Romney—who currently holds a slender lead in Iowa—blowing out the competition next week in his adopted home state, while former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., has received only a modest bump following his surprising surge to a virtual tie for first place in Iowa on Tuesday. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, is in second place in each of the three surveys, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is fading. Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who is staking his entire primary campaign on a strong performance in the Granite State, trails badly in each of the polls.

Real Clear Politics has more polling numbers.

Political pundits seem to agree that Romney will have a target on his back as other candidates look for a knock-out punch to the front-runner, and most agree this is Romney's debate to lose.

Tune in tonight at 9:00 on ABC to watch the latest.

Tomorrow morning, Meet the Press with David Gregory will air the NBC News Facebook Debate from Concord, NH, with the GOP candidates. Not only will it air on NBC, MSNBC, and NECN, but it will also stream live on Facebook.

That should be enough to feed anyone's weekend political fix. For those planning ahead, here is the schedule for the remaining debates:

- January 16 (Fox News - SC)
- January 19 (CNN - SC)
- January 23 (NBC - FL)
- January 26 (CNN - FL)
- February 22 (CNN - AZ)
- March 1 (CNN - GA)
- March 5 (NBC - CA)
- March 19 (PBS - OR)

Cross-posted at Bearing Drift