In Paul's case... who knows? In Romney's case, polls show him in third and dropping fast with no hope of improvement. Besides, he will likely get all of Virginia. In Santorum's case, he is polling in second with a good chance of coming close to or passing Gingrich if the trend lines remain as they are. He gains nothing by debating #3 in the polls just before a big contest. Romney is the one he has to beat. In his present position, Gingrich alone offers no reward that comes close to outweighing the risk. They are still debating in Arizona. So all of this might simply be as some have said, they announced the debate before they got confirmations.
Ingtar, objectively, if I were Rick, and I found out that Romney wasn’t go to show at a national debate-— I would have been at that debate in a flash.
Newt would not have gone after Rick— they both would have scorched the “no show frontrunner”- who is great with attack ads, but can’t defend his record. It was a gift.
Just imagine- Rick and Newt on a national stage with no Romney-—how’s that make Romney look vis a vis a surging Rick?