Lesser-Known Candidates Could Create Fireworks At Debate

By Beth Reinhard  //  June 13, 2011 | 2:43 p.m.
Updated: June 13, 2011 | 3:36 p.m.

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Voters looking for fireworks at Monday's GOP presidential primary debate in New Hampshire might want to focus on the candidates they don't recognize on stage.

That's because some of the underdogs seem to have less qualms about throwing punches. A nationally televised debate is one of their few chances to get noticed.

"I think it's a night to begin drawing contrasts," said former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain during a stop Monday afternoon at a Heritage Foundation forum at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.

Cain has been rising in the polls since a strong performance in a May 5 debate in South Carolina, which most of the major candidates skipped.

Also appearing at the pre-debate forum was former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. "You can trust that what I say is what I do," he said, adding, "that's a real strength for me that I think is not a strength for some of the other candidates."

Which ones?

"I think it's pretty obvious which candidates have not necessarily been as consistent in the past as I am," he said. The posture taken by Cain and Santorum contrasted with the more low-key approach by rival Tim Pawlenty. The former Minnesota governor appeared poised to go on the offensive when he coined the phrase "Obamneycare" in a nationally televised interview Sunday, in which he linked President Obama's health care plan with the Massachusetts program spearheaded by his front-running rival, Mitt Romney. But Pawlenty dialed it back in a visit Monday to a company that makes prosthetic limbs. "The object isn't to stir some internal rift in the Republican party," Pawlenty said. "The focus should be to get Barack Obama out of the White House." Asked if he would trot out "Obamneycare" in the debate, Pawlenty said, "Probably not."

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