ROMNEY ON THE ATTACK – AT 9:25 A.M. ET:  Romney and Perry are going at each other, but Romney's attacks are more concentrated and seem better organized.  He is hitting Perry on the electability question, clearly one of Perry's major problems:

Mitt Romney is leaning into an unapologetically process-focused sales pitch ahead of Thursday night’s debate, urging Republican primary voters to consider which of their party’s candidate’s is really capable of defeating Barack Obama.

In a USA Today interview published on the morning of the debate, Romney voiced concern that Perry’s “disconcerting” position on Social Security would hobble him against Obama.

And during a campaign stop in Florida yesterday, Romney explained in frankly tactical terms that he aims to win support beyond “the base of our party.”

“I also want to get independents and women generally and a lot of Democrats to say, ‘Yeah, he’s a pretty good guy, too,’” Romney told voters, according to the Boston Globe.

Romney’s former rival-turned-campaign co-chairman, Tim Pawlenty, also took to the pages of POLITICO to make this argument for nominating Romney: “We have to win.”

“For conservatives to lead America to a brighter future — it’s mission critical that our candidate win the election,” Pawlenty wrote. Romney can. And when he does — America’s future will be immeasurably better as a result.”

Romney supporters have hoped for some time that GOP primary voters would recognize Perry’s potential limitations as a general election candidate. Now, Romney and his surrogates are making the electability argument more openly than ever.

Perry fights back by hitting Romney's vulnerability, the idea that he's not a true conservative Republican:

ORLANDO -- In the hours before another high-profile Republican debate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is leveling some of the campaign's sharpest rhetoric yet at rival Mitt Romney. In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity Wednesday night, Perry said Republicans "don't need to nominate Obama lite -- someone who's going to blur the lines between President Obama and our nominee."

COMMENT:  Ouch!  That may be a bit over the top, but it does show one thing about Perry that no one can deny, and that I like – he's a gut fighter.  If he gets the nomination, he wont take a punch without throwing one back.  It'd going to be a very dirty campaign, and Perry is not known as a wimp.

September 22, 2011