mandated health care, on global warming and onç immigration. really outside of conservative orthodoxy. the republican electorate at this point in time is gravitating to him. the question is, is it gong it be a short-term date or long-term romance? so far we've had short dates but nobody has had the sustaining power among the non-romney candidates. we're getting down to the fourth quarter here. will anybody else have a time to rise up and gingrich basically because he's doing well at this late stage in the game, be the winner by default if nothing else to go against romney because we're so close to the beginning of the iowa caucuses. >> howard fineman, how do you score the debate tonight? >> well, let's take newt first. this is his first appearance as the new front-runner in the race. you saw a different newt, an avuncul avuncular, thoughtful newt that complimented the commentator, blitz blitzer. he said, excellent question,