Huntsman to skip Nevada debate in protest By Justin Sink - Tweet Jon Huntsman announced Friday that he will definitively be boycotting the Republican debate in Las Vegas next week in protest of Nevada's decision to move its caucus date to Jan. 14, throwing into doubt the traditional primary calendar led by Iowa and New Hampshire. 
 
 
 
 "If you are going to boycott something, boycott it," Hunstman said to WMUR. 
 
 
 
 His campaign said that instead, Huntsman will spend the evening campaigning in New Hampshire. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Huntsman has accused Romney of urging Nevada officials to take the earlier caucus date. Nevada, with its significant Mormon population, looks to be an easy win for the former Massachusetts governor, and a string of early victories could help Romney to cement the nomination. But the Romney camp has denied the allegations and said it hopes New Hampshire maintains its first-in-the-nation primary. 
 
 
 
 Michele Bachmann was reportedly also considering boycotting the debate, although her campaign later clarified that she would be in attendance. But she and Rick Santorum are considering joining Huntsman and Newt Gingrich, who have said they won't participate in the caucus itself unless New Hampshire and Iowa are accommodated. 
 
 Tweet View Comments "Next Tuesday, Gov. Huntsman will boycott the Nevada presidential debate, and instead hold a first-in-the-nation town hall meeting in New Hampshire, to discuss his bold plans to create jobs and reform America's foreign policy for the 21st century," said campaign manager Matt David in a statement. "While Mitt Romney's campaign has tried to game the system by encouraging Nevada to move to an earlier date, Gov. Huntsman is sticking up for the Granite State."Huntsman has accused Romney of urging Nevada officials to take the earlier caucus date. Nevada, with its significant Mormon population, looks to be an easy win for the former Massachusetts governor, and a string of early victories could help Romney to cement the nomination. But the Romney camp has denied the allegations and said it hopes New Hampshire maintains its first-in-the-nation primary.Michele Bachmann was reportedly also considering boycotting the debate, although her campaign later clarified that she would be in attendance. But she and Rick Santorum are considering joining Huntsman and Newt Gingrich, who have said they won't participate in the caucus itself unless New Hampshire and Iowa are accommodated. Source: 
 
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 Defense & Homeland Security | Energy & Environment | Healthcare | Finance & Economy | Technology | Foreign Policy | Labor | Transportation & Infrastructure ||||| Herman Cain will be back at stage center—literally, this time—when seven Republican candidates for president gather tonight in Las Vegas for the eighth debate of the season. 
 
 The live debate, broadcast on CNN, will give all the contestants a chance to push their issues while laying into their rivals. But the top protagonists – just like last week’s debate in New Hampshire — will undoubtedly be Mr. Cain, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. 
 
 Mr. Cain, the former restaurant executive, is sure to come under intense scrutiny since his 9-9-9 tax plan propelled him to the front ranks of the nomination race. But Mr. Perry will also hope to use the forum to strengthen his own flagging campaign, which has suffered from a series of mediocre debate performances. 
 
 Mr. Romney, the steadiest of the candidates to date, will seek to solidify his standing in a state that he won by a large margin in 2008, when he went on to lose the nomination race to Arizona Sen. John McCain. 
 
 The other candidates looking to make their mark will be Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Texas Rep. Ron Paul and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman decided to boycott the forum to protest Nevada’s decision to move its caucus into mid-January, a decision that has angered Republicans in New Hampshire, a state that is crucial to Mr. Huntsman’s fading election chances. 
 
 We’ll be live blogging the 90-minute debate starting at 8 p.m. EDT. Please join us then. ||||| Republican presidential contenders attacked upstart Herman Cain's economic plan forcefully as a tax increase waiting to happen Tuesday night, moving swiftly in campaign debate to blunt the former businessman's unlikely rise in the race for the party's nomination. 
 
 Sam Feist, Washington bureau chief and senior vice president for CNN, leads a tour of the debate stage before a Republican presidential debate sponsored by the network Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011, in Las Vegas.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, left, shakes hands with Texas Gov. Rick Perry before the start of a Republican presidential debate Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken) (Associated Press) 
 
 Republican presidential candidates Herman Cain, left, shakes hands with Texas Gov. Rick Perry, right, as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney looks on before a Republican presidential debate Tuesday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain gestures during a news conference with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, not seen, at Arpaio's office Monday, Oct. 17, 2011, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Paul... (Associated Press) 
 
 Republican presidential candidates former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, right, points at businessman Herman Cain during a Republican presidential debate Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Chris... (Associated Press) 
 
 Yet old animosities flared anew, as well, as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry swapped criticism in unusually personal and biting terms. "You have a problem with allowing someone to finish speaking," Romney declared as the two men interrupted one another repeatedly in a clash over immigration. 
 
 In on a bow to Nevada voters, none of the contenders said he wanted to open a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. 
 
 The fifth debate in six weeks ranged over familiar contentious territory _ from immigration and health care to the economy and energy, often in antagonistic terms. The candidates engaged each other more directly and sometimes more heatedly than in previous debates. 
 
 But Cain's unlikely rise from asterisk in the polls to contender was clearly on the minds of his rivals on stage in a hotel along the Las Vegas Strip. 
 
 Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota led the verbal assault moments after the debate began, saying his call for a 9 percent federal sales tax would only be the beginning, with the rate rising later. 
 
 Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania wasn't nearly as gentle, citing one analysis that found that taxes would go up for 84 percent of the nation's households if Cain's proposal went into effect. "We're talking about major increases in taxes," he said, adding that a single person and a couple with children with the same income would pay the same tax under Cain's proposal. 
 
 Undeterred, Cain insisted the charges were untrue. He said he was being criticized because lobbyists, accountants and others "want to continue to be able to manipulate the American people with a 10-million- word mess," the current tax code. 
 
 Cain's proposal is for a 9 percent personal income tax, a 9 percent corporate tax and a 9 percent national sales tax. 
 
 The former pizza company CEO is the latest and unlikeliest phenomenon in the race to pick a rival for President Barack Obama. A black man in a party that draws few votes from Africans Americans, he had bumped along with little notice as Romney sought to fend off one fast-rising rival after another. 
 
 That all changed in the past few weeks, after Perry burst into the race and then fell back in the polls. However unlikely Cain's rise, Tuesday night's debate made clear that none of his rivals are willing to let him go unchallenged. 
 
 "Herman, I love you, brother, but let me tell you something, you don't need to have a big analysis to figure this thing out," Perry said to Cain. "Go to New Hampshire where they don't have a sales tax and they don't have any interest in one," he said, referring to the state that will hold the first primary early next year. 
 
 The debate was the fifth since Labor Day, and the last scheduled for nearly a month in a race that is fluid in more than one way. 
 
 While polls chart a series of rises and falls for various contenders _ Romney remaining at or near the top _ the schedule is far from set. Florida's decision to move up its primary set off a scramble as Iowa maneuvered to make sure its caucuses are the first real test of the race and New Hampshire works to protect its half-century distinction as host to the first primary. 
 
 It was Perry who instigated the confrontation over immigration, saying that Romney had no credentials on the issue because he had once hired an illegal worker, the "height of hypocrisy." 
 
 Romney denied the charge, saying he had hired a company to mow his lawn and did not know that it had an illegal immigrant on its payroll. 
 
 The two men talked over one another, and at one point, Romney placed his hand on Perry's shoulder. 
 
 "It's been a tough couple of debates for Rick. And I understand that so you're going to get nasty," he said. 
 
 As Perry continued to speak, Romney stopped him: "You have a problem with allowing someone to finish speaking, and I suggest that if you want to become president of the United States, you've got to let both people speak," he said. 
 
 On a more substantive level, Perry said he opposed repealing the portion of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution that says anyone born in the United States is automatically a citizen. 
 
 Bachmann, Santorum and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas all sidestepped the question. 
 
 Cain found himself on the defensive on two others issues during the two-hour debate. 
 
 He apologized for earlier remarks about building an electric fence on the Mexico border that could kill people trying to cross illegally. 
 
 And he said he wouldn't be willing to negotiate with terrorists, even though he had appeared to suggest he might be in an interview earlier in the day. 
 
 Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman skipped this debate, saying he was boycotting the Nevada caucuses in a dispute over the primary and caucus calendar. He is campaigning exclusively in New Hampshire in hopes of a victory that can move him into the thick of the race. 
 
 Not only Republicans, but Obama was also critical of Cain's economic plan during the day. 
 
 In an interview with ABC News, Obama said it would be a "huge burden" on middle-class and working families. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writer Steve Peoples in Washington contributed to this report.
– Jon Huntsman is skipping next week's debate in Las Vegas to protest Nevada's decision to move up its caucuses to January, reports the Hill. Instead, Huntsman will host a town-hall meeting in New Hampshire. The Huntsman camp accuses Mitt Romney of encouraging the state to shift its caucus date to "game the system." Romney is expected to win in Nevada, and his rivals fear that if he racks up enough early victories, he will lock up the nomination. Huntsman's daughters weigh in on their Twitter feed: "Dad boycotting Tuesday's Vegas debate to hold townhall in NH. Enough w/@mittromney and his campaign's attempts to rig the political process."