Heat's on as GOP candidates make their final pitch
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Republican presidential candidates from left: former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Rep. Ron Paul take part in the national anthem at the start of the Republican debate Thursday night at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla. -
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, left, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney spar during a Republican presidential debate Thursday at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla. The debate is the last one before Tuesday's Florida primary.
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- In an energized debate that was as much about projecting a powerful and presidential image as it was about answering questions, the four candidates for the Republican nomination Thursday night defended their stated positions and traded jabs in a final pitch for votes in Florida's influential primary Tuesday.
At stake is the claim to momentum -- and 50 precious delegates -- going into the month before Super Tuesday and what could be a drawn-out battle for the opportunity to challenge President Barack Obama in November.
The debate at the University of North Florida pitted the two front-runners -- former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney -- who have been at each other's throats in political advertising that has saturated the Sunshine State.
But it might have been former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul who fared best in the debate by staying clear of the fray while seizing every opportunity to assert themselves. Still, with little ground game in Florida, it is unlikely that either candidate can burst forward in the days that remain before the state's winner-take-all primary on Tuesday.
Mr. Santorum kicked off the debate to cheers when he introduced his 93-year-old mother, a resident of Florida, and Mr. Paul shattered numerous strings of policy wrangling with light comments.
The debate became frisky early when Mr. Gingrich turned the topic of illegal immigration into whether Mr. Romney advocated rounding up grandmothers and throwing them out of the country.
"I am prepared to be very tough and very bold, but I'm also prepared to be realistic," said Mr. Gingrich, who called Mr. Romney the most "anti-immigrant" of the four candidates. "I do believe there needs to be some level of humanity for people who have been here a long time."
"Mr. Speaker, I'm not anti-immigrant," Mr. Romney shot back. "My father was born in Mexico. My wife's father was born in Wales. They came to this country. The idea that I'm anti-immigrant is repulsive. Don't use a term like that.
"You can say we disagree on certain policies, but to say that enforcing the U.S. law to protect our borders, to welcome people here legally, to expand legal immigration, as I have proved, that that's somehow anti anti-immigrant is simply the kind of over-the-top rhetoric that has characterized American politics too long.
"I'm not going to go find grandmothers and take them out of their homes and deport them. Those are your words, not my words. And to use that rhetoric suggests to people that somehow, if you're not willing to keep people here who violated the law, that you're anti-immigrant. Nothing could be further from the truth."
Mr. Santorum stepped in, saying, "I am pro-immigrant. I want people to come to America with skill and vitality and vibrance. I want them to come legally. ... Immigrants bring the vitality and love of this country that infuses the country with great energy."
Mr. Gingrich has gotten significant mileage out of confronting moderators in past debates, indignantly challenging their questions as sophomoric or inappropriate. The terse exchanges appeared to resonate with conservative audiences and viewers who have been waiting for a spirited candidate to angrily express their frustrations with a president and media they don't trust.
Many credited his strong showing in South Carolina to the fight he showed in that state's final debate, and he was widely regarded as riding that wave into Florida, where polls showed a marked jump in his support. But as fast as it rose, that trend might be leveling off as a CNN/Time poll Thursday showed Mr. Romney at 36 percent and Mr. Gingrich at 34 percent, just within the survey's 2 percent margin for error.
Mr. Santorum was pegged at 11 percent and Mr. Paul at 9 percent, with 7 percent of Florida's Republicans still undecided going into the debate.
Another exchange early in the debate involved a political ad of Mr. Romney's accusing Mr. Gingrich of saying Spanish is "the language of the ghetto."
After Mr. Romney said he was unfamiliar with the ad, CNN staff members checked and Mr. Blitzer said that not only was it one of his ads, but it concluded with the statement, "I am Mitt Romney and I approved this ad."
Mr. Romney deflected the point by asking if Mr. Gingrich had made the statement, to which his opponent said he did not use those words.
Moments later, Mr. Gingrich was challenged to defend criticism of Mr. Romney for having a Swiss bank account. Mr. Gingrich tried to duck behind calling it "a nonsense question" and gestured to Mr. Santorum for support in saying he didn't want to deal with personal attacks. But moderator Wolf Blitzer of CNN pressed, saying Mr. Gingrich had raised the matter on the campaign trail and ought to address it in the debate.
Mr. Romney, who said he was unaware of many of his investments because they are part of a blind trust, agreed, saying, "Wouldn't it be nice if people who make accusations somewhere else would be willing to stand up here and defend them?"
Mr. Gingrich then acknowledged having spoken out about the Swiss bank account and countered that, "You'll notice that the governor wasn't aware of the ad he was running. He's not aware of the investments that were being made in his name."
Thursday night's two-hour encounter was sponsored by CNN, the Republican Party of Florida and the Hispanic Leadership Network. A number of the topics addressed touched on issues of concern to the Latin American community, which makes up almost a quarter of the state's population. Those matters included trade with Cuba, statehood for Puerto Rico and what Hispanic Americans might figure in the candidates' administration.
Another issue of importance to Floridians was America's space program, which launches from nearby Cape Canaveral. Mr. Gingrich came out this week with a proposal to colonize the moon during his administration, a suggestion that none of the other candidates embraced.
"That's a tremendous expense," said Mr. Romney, who said he would be willing to "talk about different options and the cost."
Mr. Santorum agreed that further space exploration should involve "the good minds of the private sector," but said, "We have a $1.2 trillion deficit. It's a great thing to get votes, but it's not a responsible thing. ... In my administration, the amount of spending will go down until we get a balanced budget, and you can't do that with grand schemes. We've got to be responsible with the way we allocate our resources."
"I'd like to have an American on the moon before the Chinese get there," Mr. Gingrich said.
But Mr. Paul again sparked laughter saying, "I don't think we should go to the moon. I think maybe we ought to send some politicians out there. ... We don't need a bigger, newer program. Health care demands a higher priority than going to the moon just for the fun of it."
Mr. Romney accused Mr. Gingrich of pandering for Florida votes. "This habit of coming to a state and saying exactly what they want to hear," Mr. Romney said. "It's how we got into this mess. ... I spent 25 years in business. If I had a business executive come to me and say they wanted to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, I'd say, "'You're fired.'"
First Published January 27, 2012 12:00 am
