But seriously, if you want to hypothesize a head to head comparison of Newt and Obama, isn’t the meaningful perception the one on election day? Which comes after some sequence of debates. Who would be better at going through Obama like a white hot buzz saw in debates (of any format) than Newt? In fact that is probably the strongest argument for nominating Newt - is his ability to show a stunning, stark contrast with Obama that will transform public perception, and thus that rank order.
“Which comes after some sequence of debates.”
Could you be persuaded to vote for Obama after watching a debate?
Most people already know Newt and Obama very well and the two men couldn’t be more different. You are assuming that there are millions of people out there that can be flipped from Obama to Newt but I just don’t see that happening with or without debates.