Tonight could be the last, best hope for the GOP presidential candidates to hold themselves up and knock their opponents down before the increasingly important January 3 Iowa caucuses.

Six GOP candidates are slated to appear Thursday night in front of a sold-out crowd in Sioux City. 

Newt Gingrich still leads the pack in Iowa and nationally, according to polls, but his support has been more broad than deep, and his opponents -- especially Mitt Romney -- can be counted on to seize every opportunity to highlight the former Speaker's marrital infidelity and Freddie Mac opportunities.

The debate begins at 8 p.m.

Join us for live coverage of the debate and commentary from Patch editors, local experts and Howard Fineman of MSNBC, NBC, Patch and The Huffington Post.

Confirmed to attend are Gingrich, Romney, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Congressman Ron Paul, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

The debate will be moderated by Bret Baier of FOX News.

Thursday’s event is being organized by FOX News and the Republican Party of Iowa. It will be televised on the FOX News channel and live-streamed on YouTube, in addition to FOX News Radio, FOX News Mobile and FOXNews.com.