One different thing about tonight's debate in New Hampshire is that each Republican candidate will get a chance to ask one question of one of their competitors. That could make for some interesting exchanges depending on the pairs involved and the query.

The way the candidates are arranged on stage will be a bit different tonight as well, as the surge in the polls by Herman Cain will put him up front and center, right between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry.

"I'm moving up from the back of the bus," Cain joked in a Tuesday morning appearance on the Neal Boortz radio show.

Cain, who had just completed a walk-through at the debate site at Dartmouth College, said he would use his one question tonight to go after the GOP frontrunner in the polls.

"I'm going after Romney," Cain said.

"I have a very penetrating question for him," Cain told Boortz, without revealing what that question was going to be about.

Cain indicated he saw no reason to waste any breath going after Rick Perry, who has been sliding in the polls in recent weeks.

"I don't need to go after Perry," Cain said, noting that he will let others do that dirty work for him.

Tonight's debate is supposed to be focused on economic matters, and Cain said he expects a full discussion of his 9-9-9 plan, which has caught flak from both parties in recent weeks.

"That's my sweet spot," Cain said, arguing that he can make the case for economic change in the tax system much better than the other politicians on stage.

It will certainly be a different situation for Cain, who has spent much of this campaign on the edge of the debate - but now, right between Romney and Perry - the Georgia businessman gets the chance to grab even more attention.

"All of them are going to try to attack me," Cain predicted.

There are certainly a number of strategy choices to be made tonight by the eight major Republican candidates, from who to attack to what issues to hammer on.

And if the volatility of this race in past weeks is any lesson, we may see more of it after tonight as well.