Mitt Set To Have A "Weekend From Hell"

The smartest debate curtain-raiser you'll read, from POLITICO's Maggie Haberman.

Haberman writes:

Newt’s seething. Perry’s desperate. Huntsman wants to get noticed. Santorum needs to make a mark.

All of it adds up to a long — and potentially painful — weekend for Mitt Romney, who will run the gauntlet at back-to-back New Hampshire debates....

“In 2008, he found himself in the middle of a circular firing squad … and it really put him on an uncomfortable defensive posture throughout the whole debate,” recalled Rich Killion, a New Hampshire-based strategist who is neutral in the Jan. 10 primary. “Truly, this [weekend], he could be seeing two or three candidates come at him.”