The GOP's 'make-or-break' Sioux City debate: Winners and losers

The Republican presidential candidates made their closing arguments in the final forum before Iowa's Jan. 3 caucuses. Did anyone gain a last-minute edge?

Romney and Gingrich
(Image credit: REUTERS/Jeff Haynes)

Frontrunner Newt Gingrich was on the defensive — again — as the Republican candidates made their closing appeals to voters in the last debate before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses officially launch primary season (and inevitably weed out a candidate or two). Gingrich fended off competitors' claims that he's an unreliable conservative, calling them "laughable," and defended his consulting work for Fannie Mae. His chief rival, Mitt Romney, tried to stay above the fray and focus his attacks on President Obama. Who came out best in Sioux City's "make-or-break" debate? Here, a consensus list of the winners and losers:

WINNERS

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