The gloves came off in the US Republican White House race on Tuesday, as the three front-runners traded angry and sometimes personal verbal blows in a fiery TV debate.
At one point former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Texas Governor Rick Perry were almost shouting at each other after Perry, struggling to regain lost ground, said Romney had employed illegal immigrants.
Meanwhile, Herman Cain, the blunt-speaking former head of Godfather’s Pizza whose poll surge this month rejuvenated the lackluster Republican race, clashed with virtually all his rivals over his controversial “9-9-9” tax plans.
Perry, who surged into the lead after joining the race in August, but has slumped after a couple of weak debate performances, riled Romney by saying he had allegedly employed illegal immigrants as gardeners.
“The idea that you stand here before us and talk about, you’re strong on illegal immigration, is on its face the height of hypocrisy,” an animated Perry told Romney, standing at an adjacent podium.
Romney, raising his voice as he tried to respond while being repeatedly interrupted by Perry, replied: “This has been a tough couple of debates for Rick and I understand that, so you’re going to get testy.”
“You have a problem with allowing someone to finish speaking ... I suggest that if you want to become president of the United States, then you need to let both people speak,” he added, putting his hand on Perry’s shoulder.
The debate, hosted in the Venetian hotel and resort on Las Vegas’ world-famous “Strip,” had started with almost all the candidates pouring scorn on Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan.
“Herman, I love you, brother, but you don’t need to have a big analysis to figure this thing out,” Perry said. “Go to New Hampshire where they don’t have a sales tax and you’re fixing to give them one. They’re not interested in 9-9-9 ... I don’t think so, Herman. It’s not going to fly.”
However, the focus of attacks rapidly turned to Romney, with marginal candidate Rick Santorum accusing him of having “no credibility” in saying he wants to repeal US President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform, since Romney’s own Massachusetts legislation had served as a blueprint for it.
The two candidates started heatedly talking over each other, again testing CNN presenter Anderson Cooper’s moderating abilities.
One of the GOP candidates did not even turn up: Jon Huntsman, a former US ambassador to China, boycotted the the Vegas debate over Nevada’s decision to hold its presidential caucus early, threatening to upstage New Hampshire.
On the eve of the debate, a CNN/ORC poll gave Romney 26 percent, with Cain just a point behind and both of them well ahead of Perry at 13 percent.
At the end of the evening, Romney’s camp said that Perry, desperate to get himself back into the race, had misfired.
“Rick Perry had a strategy coming into this debate, to kill Mitt, and he ended up killing himself,” a Romney spokesperson said. “Every time Perry resorted to a negative attack, a personal cheap shot, the audience booed. So I think his strategy backfired.”
However, analysts said Perry had done enough to stay in the race — and in any case he, like Romney, has a far bigger campaign war-chest than Cain — leaving the race a three-way contest.
However, observers question whether Cain could suffer the same fate as Perry, who leaped to the front of the pack in August before sliding in the polls, and Cain acknowledged that sustaining his surge is a challenge.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was