Mitt Romney says no to debate in Vegas next month

What is the need for all of these debates? Can we really even call them debates? Are they really debating each other or the person not in the room? Has there ever been this many pre-debates before the primary season even begins? I can't recall. But I guess they need to sharpen up their skills before they go one on one with President Obama. This is probably a good strategy by Romney, but only time will tell.

While it will be held in a state Romney hopes to perform well in, the Nevada debate is not being carried by any national television outlet.

The move reflects the frontrunner's attempt to limit his exposure to opponents who almost certainly won't be as gentle with Romney as they were at the New Hampshire debate earlier this month.

But Romney is hardly evading joint forums. He'll participate in six of them between now and the end of October.

He will appear in a September debate at the Reagan Library sponsored by NBC and POLITICO as well as a Tea Party Express/CNN debate later that month in Tampa, his campaign tells POLITICO. In October, Romney will participate in a New Hampshire debate put on by the Washington Post and Bloomberg as well as a debate in Vegas staged by CNN and held in conjunction with the Western Republican Leadership Conference.

This in addition to the two debates he's already committed to - a Fox News/Iowa GOP debate in August and Fox News/Florida GOP debate in September — partly as an attempt to soften the blow of skipping straw polls held in conjunction with the two forums.

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