Former US House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich cemented his place on Tuesday as the main rival to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination with a solid debate performance on foreign policy.
Buoyed by opinion polls that gave him a 4 percent lead over Romney, Gingrich, whose campaign had been all but written off a few months ago, came out of the blocks quickly on national security.
Asked the first question on the Patriot Act, which extended -counter-terrorism search and surveillance powers in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, he set the tone by sounding tough and authoritative.
“I’d look at strengthening it because I think the dangers are literally that great,” Gingrich said, adding that there should be “an honest understanding that all of us will be in danger for the rest of our lives.”
During a two-hour debate at DAR Constitution Hall, just a few blocks from the White House, the candidates clashed repeatedly, disagreeing on how to handle several of the main global threats to the US.
In one of the testiest exchanges, Texas Governor Rick Perry suggested cutting off all financial aid to strained US ally Pakistan.
That drew fire from Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who said he was being “highly naive” because al-Qaeda might obtain Pakistan’s nuclear weapons if the US disengaged.
Romney, assailed by the White House hours before the debate for a disingenuous campaign ad, launched a fierce counterattack, accusing US President Barack Obama of seeing the US as “just another nation with a flag.”
“President Obama apologizes for America,” he said. “President Obama seems to think we’re going to have a global century, an Asian century. I believe we have to have an American century where America leads the free world.”
Former Utah governor and ambassador to China Jon Huntsman had his strongest debate so far, displaying his seasoned grasp of foreign policy and clashing notably with Romney when he suggested a more rapid drawdown from Afghanistan.
Veteran Texas Congressman Ron Paul also got plenty of airtime and although his libertarian views are outside Republican orthodoxy, he has maintained a strong and faithful following in the battle to contest the presidential election in November next year.
However, in the topsy-turvy Republican race, it is Gingrich that has emerged as the main threat to Romney, who looks like the man to beat as he has built a financial and organizational advantage founded on a slick campaign machine.
Gingrich must show more staying power than Bachmann, Perry and retired pizza executive Herman Cain, who have all surged to the front of the field only to wither in the full glare of the presidential campaign spotlight.
A poll of nationwide Republican voters released Tuesday by Quinnipiac University showed Gingrich leading with 26 percent support, with 22 percent for Romney. A CNN poll had Gingrich ahead by the same margin.
In his debut as nationwide poll leader, Gingrich risked angering the Republican base by suggesting he would offer an amnesty to long-term illegal immigrants.
“If you’ve been here 25 years and you got three kids and two grandkids, you’ve been paying taxes and obeying the law, you belong to a local church, I don’t think we’re going to separate you from your family, uproot you forcefully and kick you out,” he said.
Gingrich could prove Romney’s toughest challenge yet as he retains ties to the party establishment and is polling strongly in Iowa, the first state to vote when the Republican nomination battle begins in earnest on Jan. 3.
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