Photo courtesy St. Anselm College

The debate between Huntsman and Gingrich was deemed more of a “discussion” in the style of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.  The two candidates engaged each other on foreign policy issues.

Highlights of Monday’s debate included a spirited discussion about how the U.S. should deal with a potentially nuclear Iran.  Huntsman said “all options need to be on the table” while Gingrich was more specific and called for regime change.

“A movement which recruits its own children to learn how to be suicide bombers,” Gingrich said, “and sends them into a bus station or into a mall or into a restaurant to blow themselves up in order to kill you, is a movement which with nuclear weapons would use them in a heartbeat, because there's no effective deterrent.”

Gingrich explained his position further, saying “Israel is a very small country, very urban population; no more than three nuclear weapons would be required to equal a holocaust -- and you say to yourself, 'Am I going to take the risk of presiding over the second holocaust, which would mean for all practical purposes virtually the end of Judaism,' you're not going to take the risk.”

Last week Gingrich riled pro-Palestinian supporters when he said Palestinians were an “invented people.”

After the debate Huntsman said he would like to engage in more one-on-one debates.  “I'd like to challenge the other candidates to a similar sit-down; I'd like to challenge Gov. Romney to a sit-down like this. I think it's great for the voters, here in New Hampshire particularly, because we've got a primary right around the corner.”

Huntsman has formally invited Romney to a debate, but Romney’s campaign has yet to supply an answer.