Tonight at 9 PM on FoxNews, the South Carolina GOP will host one of the last debates before the primary on January 21st. Participating in tonight’s debate will be Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Rick Perry (Jon Huntsman dropped out of the race this morning). This may be one of the last meaningful debates of this cycle’s primary season, as a Romney win in South Carolina should effectively end the battle for the GOP nomination.

The Real Clear Politics average of recent polls in South Carolina shows Romney with a 7.7% lead over Newt Gingrich with only 5 days to go until the primary. Gingrich will be the candidate to watch tonight, as he will undoubtedly go after Romney, though perhaps from a different angle. His recent Bain criticisms have upset many who see Gingrich’s barbs as an assault on capitalism. Whether or not Gingrich changes his line of attack could go a long way towards determining if he can narrow the gap with Romney.

For those hoping to watch the debate online, a live stream can be found here, on Fox’s website, with coverage beginning around 8 PM

I’ll post my thoughts on the outcome of the debate tomorrow morning.

Expect plenty of blows between Gingrich and Romney tonight