Nightly News   |  December 11, 2011

GOP fallout from Saturday's debate

NBC's Lester Holt talks to CNBC's Chief Washington Correspondent John Harwood about the damage done to some GOP candidates' campaigns in Saturday's debate.

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This content comes from a Full-Text Transcript of the program.

LESTER HOLT, anchor: For more on the fallout from the debate, let's bring in CNBC 's chief Washington correspondent John Harwood . John , from where you sat, did Romney do or say anything to blunt New Gingrich 's momentum?

JOHN HARWOOD reporting: I haven't found anyone outside the Romney campaign who thinks he did. Romney and other Republicans went after Newt Gingrich , but this was a case when a front-runner looked good under fire. Gingrich was calm. He showed some humility. And he also came back with the most devastating rebuttal to Romney when he said you'd be a career politician if he hadn't lost to Teddy Kennedy .

HOLT: One of the topics that came up at the debate was the standoff in Congress over extending the payroll tax cut, the clock clearly running out there. Is it likely to get done?

HARWOOD: I think it is likely to get done. President Obama , of course, is for it. So are Republican and Democratic leaders. They think it'll be good for the economy. There's also an increasingly acute sense among members of both parties of how vulnerable they are to voters in 2012 . Toughest job may face House Speaker John Boehner because he's got a lot of resistance from the Republican rank and file.

HOLT: All right, John Harwood tonight, thank you.