Is he the one who could stop Romney?

The table above is a snap-shot of prices on the Intrade prediction market just after the latest debate between the contenders for the Republican nomination. This was being screened in prime time on a Saturday evening on CBS, one of the big networks and and was one of the biggest event so far

Perry had a much better night following his much reported gaffe earlier in the week but many pundits gave it to the former house speaker, Newt Gingrich, who has had a whole string of solid performances. He’s continued to be sure-footed and has adopted a strategy of not being seen to attack his fellow contenders – something that GOP voters seem to like.

The latest polling from Politicos has Gingrich right up there:

Given the overwhelming position that Romney has in the betting you would have expected him to be polling a lot better.

Of course not a single vote has been cast yet and all eyes are looking to the early states – particularly the Iowa caucus in the first week of January and New Hampshire on January 10th. If Romney has convincing victories in both then he’ll look unassailable. But will he?

Betting update: At 0600 Betfair had Gingrich at 5.6/1 while you could still get 7/1 with William Hill.

@MikeSmithsonPB