Before tonight's debate I wanted to briefly flag what the latest polls out of New Hampshire are saying on the Republican side. It's definitely not looking good for the Mittster. But the polls are a lot less clear cut about the direction we're going in than on the Republican side. Two of the five polls released today actually have Romney ahead, though by inconsequential margins. And the just released CNN/WMUR/UNH poll, which has McCain up by 6 points, actually has both Romney and McCain dropping a point since yesterday.

There's some evidence that Obama is pulling independent voters out of the Republican column (they can vote in either primary) and thus holding down McCain's potential post-Iowa bounce.