Mitt Romney tries to fire up supporters before Thursday’s debate

Mitt Romney encouraged his supporters to get loud and even storm the gates at Thursday’s debate in Florida, the last nationally televised encounter ahead of a potentially pivotal primary Tuesday.

Enthusiastic crowd reactions for Newt Gingrich, including standing ovations at a pair of South Carolina debates last week, helped propel the former House speaker to a huge victory in that state’s primary. By contrast, a debate in Florida on Monday was a far more sedate affair.

Audience members were asked by NBC to refrain from cheers and applause, and to a large extent they complied. The result was a better night for Romney than for Gingrich, in the eyes of many debate-watchers.

But Thursday, the crowd will once again be encouraged to respond by CNN, a co-sponsor along with the Florida Republican Party and the Hispanic Leadership Network. More than in any previous presidential campaign, TV debates have played an outsized role in determining the course of the 2012 race—effectively destroying the once-promising candidacy of Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, while at the same time boosting Gingrich.

Critics, including some within the campaigns, have deplored the way some cable networks, in a quest for higher ratings, have amped up the entertainment aspect of the debates, whipping up audiences and turning the productions into a real-world version of popular reality TV shows.

“Now, we’re getting ready for another debate tonight,” said Romney, who has already participated in 17 previous ones. “I can’t wait. It’s going to be fun again, you know that,” he added, unconvincingly.

The former Massachusetts governor was addressing several hundred supporters outside a shuttered printing company in Jacksonville, the debate city. He and the other GOP candidates are “going to have some choice times talking about the president and his failures. We’ll probably talk about the State of the Union and how badly mischaracterized (sic) he’s described our nation at a time when so many people are suffering in this state and across the country,” Romney said.

Conceding the obvious, he said the Republican contenders “may talk about the differences between ourselves as well. There may be some give and take. That’s always fun and entertaining, I know.”

Then he delivered his pitch for a loud crowd. “If you all can get there, we’d love to see you there, cheering and being a part of that,” Romney said.

Someone standing in the warm morning sunshine shouted that the Florida GOP had already distributed all 1,200 tickets to the event, which will be held on the campus of the University of North Florida.

“No tickets?” responded Romney. “Well, just storm in. This is going to be a lot of fun.”

paul.west@latimes.com