Gloves Come Off During Heated GOP Debate Mitt Romney's rivals for the Republican presidential nomination laid into him during a heated debate Tuesday night, accusing him of a lack of commitment to conservative values and attacking the health-care overhaul he shepherded into law as Massachusetts governor.
Mr. Romney had largely skated through the year's first seven debates as the other GOP contenders tussled among themselves or ganged up on the front-runner of the moment. His steady performances have kept him in the top ranks of the Republican field.
Reuters
Republican candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Perry sparred repeatedly during Tuesday's debate in Las Vegas.
But at Tuesday's debate in Las Vegas, Mr. Romney's rivals sought to heighten the wariness of some conservatives that he had run for office and governed as a liberal Republican. They tried to take advantage of one of his chief vulnerabilities, the state health insurance law that later became the model for President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul. Both laws require most individuals to buy health insurance.
Mr. Romney defended his law as a policy suitable for Massachusetts. "I was asked about the Massachusetts plan, was it something I'd impose on the nation,'' he said. "And the answer is: absolutely not." But the former governor got into a contentious exchange with former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who disputed Mr. Romney's claim to have cast the Massachusetts law as a local solution that should not be adopted nationally.
The attacks on Mr. Romney's health-care law were only one element of a debate that had multiple targets, reflecting a campaign in which all the candidates now know well each others' vulnerabilities and are eager to gain an edge. Former business executive Herman Cain got hit repeatedly on his signature "9-9-9" tax plan, while Gov. Rick Perry of Texas was criticized for backing the 2008 financial services industry bailout.
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Mr. Santorum said that while he had run for office as a conservative, Mr. Romney ran in 1994 "as a liberal, to the left of [Ted] Kennedy, and lost." It was in that election that Mr. Romney, trying to unseat Sen. Ted Kennedy (D., Mass.), said he supported Roe v. Wade and that "abortion should be safe and legal in this country." As a presidential candidate, Mr. Romney says he supports reversing Roe v. Wade and that abortion should be limited only to instances of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.
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