Rick Perry, Mitt Romney spar in Republican presidental debate

ORLANDO —Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney tangled over Social Security, health care and other issues here Thursday in a debate in which the Republican presidential candidates sharply criticized the policies of President Obama and joined in an assault on the federal government.

Romney pressed Perry to explain whether he would dismantle Social Security as a federal program and turn it over to the states, as he has suggested. Perry countered that he would preserve the program for those on it or near retirement and fix it for younger workers. He said he would support a limited role for states to manage retirement security for state employees.

“There’s a Rick Perry out there that is saying — and almost to quote, it says that the federal government shouldn’t be in the pension business, that it’s unconstitutional. Unconstitutional and it should be returned to the states,” Romney said. “So you better find that Rick Perry and get him to stop saying that.”

The attacks by Romney and others signaled the desire of Perry’s opponents to blunt the Texas governor’s early momentum in the battle for the GOP nomination and followed a pattern from two debates earlier this month.

Perry found himself on the defensive intermittently throughout Thursday’s two-hour exchange, including over his support for mandatory vaccinations for young girls against a sexually transmitted virus.

If Perry appeared to give some ground on Social Security, he held firm on his immigration positions. He said he opposes trying to build a fence along the entire U.S.-Mexican border and defended his support for giving children of illegal immigrants in-state college tuition.

Romney said that policy makes “no sense,” and former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.) said of Perry: “I would say he is soft on immigration.”

Perry said the policy had won the backing of the Texas legislature with only four dissenting votes. “I greatly support it,” he said.

Thursday’s debate was a freewheeling event in which nearly all of the candidates played more visible roles than in the previous two debates, which often became a face-off between Romney and Perry. That means the forum is likely to have a minimal effect on a race that is focused mostly on the two leaders, but the other candidates demonstrated their determination not to be pushed aside.

Obama was criticized repeatedly and the candidates vied to attack what they described as a government that has grown too large and intrusive.

Fox News, Google and the Republican Party of Florida were hosts of the debate, which was the second in two weeks in a state that is expected to play a significant role in determining who wins the GOP nomination.

Many of the questions were solicited from citizens nationwide, adding a different flavor to this forum and sometimes lessening Perry and Romney’s opportunities to go after each other.

The debate was one of a series of activities that have drawn several thousand Republican activists to Orlando for Presidency 5 this weekend. Those events include two other candidate forums held by conservative organizations and a Republican Party of Florida straw poll on Saturday. Perry is heavily favored to win the poll. Romney said he would not participate. He also skipped the Iowa straw poll in August.

Separately, a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday showed Perry with a narrow lead over Romney in the Sunshine State. The survey of Republicans showed Perry with 28 percent and Romney with 22 percent, a relatively insignificant difference this far before the state’s primary. Perry led among men, while Romney led more narrowly among women — a pattern seen in other polls of the Republican candidates.

The debate featured nine contenders. In addition to Perry and Romney, they were: Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.), former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), businessman Herman Cain, former Utah governor Jon Huntsman Jr., former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.) and former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.) announced Thursday that he was ending his long-shot campaign. McCotter, who had not been invited to the forum, has endorsed Romney.

In his criticism of Romney on health care, Perry referred to a 2010 paper written by R. Glenn Hubbard, an economist who Romney announced earlier this month would help lead his team of economic advisers.

In the article, published in Forum for Health Economics and Policy, Hubbard and two co-authors noted the similarity of the Massachusetts plan to the national health-care law President Obama signed in 2010. Romney has distanced himself from the federal law.

“The plan’s main components are the same as those of the new health reform law, the effects of the plan provide a window onto the country’s future,” the paper says.

Perry also attacked Romney on education. The former Massachusetts governor has spoken favorably of an Obama administration program called “Race to the Top” that offers additional funding to states if they adopt policies the administration favors, such as the creation of charter schools.

Perry said that the program was “not conservative” and that it was an improper government intervention into education.

A few hours before the debate, the candidates spoke at an event sponsored by the Florida chapter of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a group that is organizing social conservatives to vote next year.

The competitors largely avoided attacking one another at that forum, instead drawing subtle contrasts.

Bachmann emphasized her opposition to same-sex marriage and urged voters to select a strong conservative as the party’s nominee. Her target appeared to be Romney, who has largely played down issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion in his campaign.

“We don’t have to sit on the back of the bus in this election, we need to stand up and have a candidate who is a true social conservative,” she said.

Santorum issued an even more direct plea for religious conservatives to support him, arguing that when others who call themselves conservative have cowered in the face of opposition on social issues, “I stood tall and I fought.”

Romney stuck to his usual message: his business experience. “I’m a business guy, I’m a conservative businessman,” he said. “There are plenty of people who are running for president who are politicians. . . . I think it helps to have someone whose had a job to create jobs.”

Perry spoke about his faith. He also highlighted his modest upbringing, in an apparent contrast to Romney, whose father was an automobile executive before entering politics.

“I can tell you one thing: I wasn’t born with four aces in my hand,” he said, poking fun at Romney’s remark in the last debate that job growth in Texas resulted from political and economic conditions Perry inherited.

Cain proved a crowd favorite and issued a denunciation of Obama. Gingrich promised he would sign a series of executive orders favored by social conservatives on his first day as president. Paul emphasized his opposition to abortion.