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For the first time in nearly a month, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich will share a stage in Arizona, at a Republican presidential debate hosted at the Mesa Center of the Arts on Wednesday. The latest poll numbers from CNN have Romney in the lead with the support of 36 percent, and Santorum coming in at a close second with 32 percent of likely voters. While Romney's lead is far from decisive, many Arizona voters have yet to make up their minds.

It's getting down to the wire in Florida, with Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney neck-and-neck in the polls. The Latino vote is essential to win the Sunshine State, but it might be even more important for the general election in November. According to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, 12.2 million Latinos will vote in the 2012 presidential election, a 26 percent increase from 2008. But whether Latinos like what they've seen in the lead-up to the Florida primary remains to be seen.

With 23 debates held thus far, the GOP candidates have conjured a great deal of applause, cheers, boos and laughter. But whether or not audience reactions are allowed is largely dependent on the commentator and arena: Brian Williams instructed the audience of this Monday's debate broadcast on NBC to refrain from clapping or any verbal reactions. On Tuesday, Newt Gingrich told "Fox & Friends" host Gretchen Carlson that he disagrees with silencing debate audiences, and threatened not to participate in future debates that prohibit reactions.

The remaining Republican presidential candidates — Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum — will debate in Florida on Thursday evening. A new CNN poll shows the two frontrunners, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, are in a dead heat, with Romney leading Gingrich 36 percent to 34 percent. The primary is less than a week away, and the stakes are high.  The winner-takes-all state has 50 delegates — more than Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina combined.  

With less than two weeks before the January 3 Iowa caucus, the GOP presidential hopefuls are making their final push in the Hawkeye state. Recent days have seen libertarian candidate Ron Paul surge to the front of the pack, a position most recently held by Newt Gingrich. With his popularity among young voters, his consistency on issues, and populist rhetoric about "ending" the Federal Reserve, Paul has formed a broad coalition that has made him the latest front-runner in Iowa. But will it be enough to sustain a national campaign to beat presumptive nominee Mitt Romney?

Recap from It's a Free Country.

Welcome to Politics Bites, where every afternoon at It's A Free Country, we bring you the unmissable quotes from the morning's political conversations on WNYC. Today on the Brian Lehrer Show, Georgia-based conservative columnist and author of Paranoid Nation: The Real Story of the 2008 Fight for the Presidency, Matt Towery, and contributing editor for Newsweek Magazine, Eleanor Clift, talked about the resurgence of Newt Gingrich's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

When Herman Cain introduced his 999 plan, it put him in the spotlight and helped vault him to the top of the polls. It was just a matter of time before another Republican presidential contender offered something similar. Within days, Newt Gingrich proposed a 15 percent flat tax. Now Governor Rick Perry has responded with a flat tax plan of his own. Perry's plan centers around a 20 percent flat tax, and offers a choice. Taxpayers can either file under the current system, or opt to use Perry's flat rate.

Republican presidential candidates hammered away at Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan during Tuesday's GOP debate. They argued it was a tax increase waiting to happen, as they aimed to curtail Cain's rise in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

The 2012 Election is more than a year away, but the president and Republican presidential hopefuls are already campaigning, and setting their sights on potential swing states. Tuesday night, the Republican presidential candidates will debate once again, this time in the swing state of Nevada. Meanwhile, President Obama is traveling through the swing state of North Carolina, hoping to rally support for his jobs bill.

Herman Cain has been getting a lot of attention lately, not least for his "9-9-9" tax plan. (Not "6-6-6", as Bachmann has devilishly suggested.) He explains the plan on his website with short, sharp bullet points, but most of the fine print is still a mystery.

The GOP candidates squared off again last night in New Hampshire. Anna Sale, political reporter for It's a Free Country, discusses the debate, which focused on the economy.

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The latest Republican presidential debate was held in New Hampshire on Tuesday night. Perhaps it was the mahogany table's influence but, unlike some of the more recent GOP debates, the atmosphere was cordial. The candidates steered clear of some of the more contentious topics — religion, race, immigration — that have been roiling the field. Instead, they expressed dissatisfaction with the Federal Reserve and health care reform, among other subjects. But what, in a debate that focused primarily on the economy, did they offer to potential voters?

The rival candidates and audience turned on Rick Perry, the frontrunner with deep Tea Party support, for his claim that if you're a young person in this country, regardless of your last name, you should have the chance to contribute to society rather than be a drag on it. He was booed.

Last night, eight GOP presidential hopefuls gathered at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California for the fourth Republican debate this year. It was the first presidential debate for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who was in the lead in a recent poll. Perry and Romney sparred over their job creation records and other issues, often overshadowing the six other candidates.

The Iowa Republican Party, Fox News, and The Washington Examiner hosted the first Iowa presidential debate on Thursday, August 11th, at Iowa State University in Ames. The debate set the stage for the Ames Straw Poll to follow the next weekend, an important test for several would-be nominees in the 2012 Republican field.

From the debate tonight through to the Ames Straw Poll on Saturday, the next 48 hours in Iowa are a critical test for GOP presidential hopefuls. Congressional correspondent for Bloomberg News Lisa Lerer offers context and analysis of the coming days.

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Reihan Salam, columnist for The Daily and blogger for National Review Online, discusses what we learned in the first Republican debate last night.

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Anna Sale, It's A Free Country political reporter, to offer her quick take on last night's first debate of the 2012 election season. She will be joined by Charles (Chuck) Dunn, professor of government at Regent University and Reihan Salam, National Review Online domestic policy reporter.  

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