Coming Up on 'This Week': GOP Candidate Jon Huntsman, Analysis of the ABC News GOP Presidential Debate
WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2011— -- On Saturday night, the top Republican presidential candidates face off in a critical debate hosted by ABC News on the campus of Drake University in Des Moines. On Sunday morning, turn to "This Week" for the latest analysis from the ABC News political team on the scene in Iowa and in Washington, D.C.
Front-runner Newt Gingrich has surged ahead of Mitt Romney in several key state and national polls this week, leading the Romney campaign and surrogates to challenge Gingrich on his personal and professional life. Will Romney take the attacks directly to Gingrich on the debate stage Saturday, and how will Gingrich respond? And with many voters still undecided with only three weeks before the Iowa caucuses, will any of the other candidates break through on Saturday night?
ABC News anchors and debate moderators Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos will join Christiane Amanpour live on Sunday morning to break down highlights from the Iowa debate showdown. ABC News senior White House correspondent Jake Tapper, senior political correspondent Jonathan Karl, and correspondent John Berman will also join Amanpour from Iowa to analyze how the candidates fared, and what comes next as the campaigns head into the final stretch.
And Christiane goes one-on-one with Jon Huntsman in a "This Week" Sunday exclusive. The Republican candidate is skipping Iowa and putting all his chips on New Hampshire. Will his "Live Free or Die" state strategy revive his campaign? How does he plan to catch Romney and Gingrich? Jon Huntsman, only on "This Week."
Then, the roundtable will examine key moments from Saturday's debate and from the campaign trail this week, with ABC's George Will, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, and Republican strategist Leslie Sanchez in Washington, and Des Moines Register political columnist Kathie Obradovich from Iowa.
Saturday's debate is co-sponsored by ABC News, Yahoo! News, The Des Moines Register, ABC5/WOI-DT, and the Republican Party of Iowa. The debate will air in primetime from 9:00-11:00pm ET nationally on the ABC Television Network and locally on ABC5/WOI-DT. In addition it will be live-streamed on ABCNews.com, Yahoo.com, MyABC5.com, and DesMoinesRegister.com.