The two leading US Republican presidential hopefuls, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Texas Governor Rick Perry, accused each other in a Republican Party presidential debate of contradicting themselves on issues such as healthcare and Social Security retirement benefits.
Perry has overtaken Romney as the front-runner in the race. Seven other candidates also participated in the forum on Thursday night, but the Republican contest has largely turned into a two-person race with five months to go before the first nominating contests.
Perry insisted he had backed off “not one inch, sir” from what he had written in a campaign-season book published a few months ago.
Romney vouched for his own steadfastness moments later.
“There are a lot of reasons not to elect me,” he said. “There are a lot of reasons not to elect other people on this stage ... But one reason to elect me is I know what I stand for. I’ve written it down. Words have meaning.”
Five months remain until the first nominating contests, leaving little time for some of the candidates trying to break free of the pack. Their camps descended this week on Florida, a swing-state rich with elderly residents, who tend to vote in large numbers.
A poll released early on Thursday indicates Florida Republicans slightly prefer Perry, the front--runner, over Romney in their party’s battle to find a nominee to face US President Barack Obama next year.
Perry runs ahead in national opinion polls, with Romney a close second, and they compete daily for endorsements from members of the US Congress and other party luminaries in hopes of gaining a permanent edge in the race.
Romney accused Perry of having said that the federal government “shouldn’t be in the pension business, that it’s unconstitutional,” a reference to Social Security benefits.
Noting his rival’s denials, Romney mocked him.
“You better find that Rick Perry and get him to stop saying that,” he said.
Perry soon returned the favor, saying Romney switched his position on healthcare between editions of a book he had published. In one edition, Perry said, Romney -advocated expanding to the rest of the country the healthcare program he signed in Massachusetts.
“Then in your paperback, you took that line out, so speaking of not getting it straight in your book, sir,” he said.
The Massachusetts legislation required residents of the state to purchase health coverage or pay a fine, a cornerstone of the law that Obama won from Congress last year that has inflamed conservative voters across the country.
The debate was the third in as many weeks for the Republican hopefuls and in its opening moments, quite a bit less combative than the other two. Obama was the target of the nine presidential -hopefuls on the debate stage, rather than each other.
The candidates sharply criticized Obama’s handling of the economy, calling for tax cuts, elimination of government regulations and other steps to help create jobs in a nation with 9.1 percent unemployment.
The two-hour event was sponsored by Fox News and Google, in keeping with an emerging trend in which mainstream media organizations partner with Internet companies.
Also on stage were former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, US Reprentative Ron Paul, former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson, businessman Herman Cain and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman.
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