Candidates for the US Republican presidential nomination will face off later today in a debate ahead of New Hampshire's primary, with Mitt Romney still seen as the frontrunner.
The showdown, held by tradition on the campus of tiny Saint Anselm college here, comes as a fresh batch of opinion polls show Mr Romney with a vast lead over the crowded field here.
Polls showed Texas Representative Ron Paul in second place; however a surge in support was also recorded for Christian conservative Rick Santorum.
According to an NBC-Marist survey, Mr Romney was ahead with 42% support, followed by Mr Paul with 22% and Mr Santorum with 13%.
The debate - the first since Mr Romney edged Mr Santorum by just eight votes out of 120,000 cast in Iowa's caucus - will give the candidates a prime-time shot at denting Mr Romney before New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday.
"I'm ready for what anyone wants to bring my way. Got to have broad shoulders in this business. As was said long, long ago, politics ain't beanbags," Mr Romney said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
Mr Santorum, a former senator from the key battleground of Pennsylvania, has mostly avoided attacking the former Massachusetts governor by name but mocked his shifting views on issues that put him at odds with conservatives.
"I can tell you, you may not agree with me on every issue and I suspect you don't. But what you know is that I agree with me on every issue," Mr Santorum said at a town hall meeting this week in Brentwood.
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who blamed his disappointing fourth-place Iowa finish on attack ads by Mr Romney and his allies, has been attacking him as they both criss-cross the small northeastern state.
"It's a joke for him to call himself a conservative," said Mr Gingrich.
Rick Perry, who skipped New Hampshire after a woeful fifth place in Iowa to campaign on friendlier ground in South Carolina, will need to convince voters he deserves a second look after shaky performances in prior debates.
The debate, and another tomorrow morning, are going to be "highly negative," said Larry J Sabato, a politics professor at the University of Virginia and the author of "Feeding Frenzy: Attack Journalism and American Politics."
"It's 10 minutes to midnight. If Romney runs away with the voting, there may be no stopping him," Mr Sabato recently told AFP.
The debates are a rare chance to court a national audience and voters state-wide in New Hampshire, which could send another candidate packing the same way a sixth-place finish led Representative Michele Bachmann to give up.
That could reset the field: Mr Romney's vast campaign war chest and high-profile endorsements have fed an image as the candidate to beat, but he faces stubborn doubts about his conservative credentials and has never been able to push his support from Republicans nationwide above 30%.
If core conservatives rally around Mr Santorum - or another candidate – Mr Romney could be in for a battle, though none of those currently running can yet match his fundraising haul or his extensive organization across key states.
Mr Romney predicted yesterday that he and his rivals would ultimately close ranks around the eventual nominee in order to ensure that President Barack Obama is turned out of the White House in 6 November elections.
"We'll put our egos and bruised feelings aside and then come back and do what's the right thing for our nation," Mr Romney told about 100 supporters at a spaghetti dinner in Tilton, New Hampshire.
"When it's all over, we ought to be able to hug and go to work to get one of us elected president of the United States," he said. "If I am not the nominee, I will be supporting our nominee, and working for him. I will work hard."
