I didn’t see the Huntsman-Gingrich “debate,” but the reviews are pretty uniformly negative. Ross Douthat has even withdrawn his previous statement that more intimate debates (versus these unwieldy panel debates) would be a good thing. Plus:

And if Huntsman’s supporters want to know why their man has struggled to inspire any excitement or strong support, despite an impressive record and solid conservative bona fides, the answer begins with the fact that he just spent 90 minutes on a stage with the candidate leading in the polls and never once said anything that might actually make some real news for his own struggling campaign.

Ain’t that the truth. I saw Huntsman a few weeks ago being interviewed on some cable news show, and the host set him up to rip into Gingrich, Romney, the whole lot. He very politedly — and repeatedly — declined to say anything unkind about any of his opponents. Does this man actually want to win? It’s fine to criticize Obama, but when you’re at one percent in the polls, you have to give GOP primary voters a reason for thinking you’re a better candidate than those other Republicans who are beating you. Which in Huntsman’s case is just about every Republican except Buddy Roemer.