[Lamplighter]

USA Today
1/7/12
Perry returns to the Republican race

Tonight's debate in New Hampshire features a candidate who's been missing in action: Rick Perry.
Perry's absence from the campaign trail has not helped him public opinion polls.
He barely registers in New Hampshire surveys.
And three recent polls in South Carolina show Perry at between 2% and 5%.

StLouisToday.com
AP
January 7, 2012
Huntsman: 'Sane Republican' ready for his moment

After sitting out the Iowa caucuses and investing all his hopes in this state,
Huntsman has struggled to find a voice that resonates with voters.
The former Utah governor is proud to announce that he's no longer
"the margin-of-error candidate _ in New Hampshire, at least.

But he'll need to do far better than that for his campaign to continue after Tuesday's primary.

Politico
JIM VANDEHEI and MAGGIE HABERMAN
1/7/12 7:01

Debate night undercard: Good Newt vs. Bad Newt

Newt Gingrich faces, to use one of his favorite terms, a transformative question in the next 48 hours:
Can he claw his way back into this race without letting Bad Newt completely out of the box?

Hyperbole is his oxygen, and the man takes a lot of very deep breaths.
The hyperbole is a hoot for Republicans when it’s directed at Obama or, just as good,
at the media in debates in defense of fellow Republicans.
<snip>
But it can be cringe-inducing when it’s aimed at those fellow Republicans instead.

And besides all that:

The GOP candidate for President may be determined by a single driving question...

Nashua Telegraph
By STACY MILBOUER
Friday, January 6, 2012
Amherst 9-year-old reveals GOP presidential candidates’ superhero alter egos

Ari, a fourth-grader at Clark/Wilkins Elementary School,
began asking the question to presidential candidates during
the summer at Amherst’s annual Fourth of July parade
– notorious for attracting Uncle Sams on stilts and campaigning politicians
Dad, Darren [Garnick], recorded it all with a hand-held flip video camera.