Posted on Mon, Oct. 22, 2007

Bashing each other's conservative credentials, eight Republican presidential candidates met for the first time on a Florida stage in a prime-time Sunday debate that gave them a launching pad for crowd-pleasing shots at Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

The debate marked the ninth time most of the candidates have met on national television, and it was one of their most contentious exchanges as they enter the 100-day countdown to Florida's Jan. 29 primary.

In a race largely defined by which candidate can sell himself as the true conservative, the first 15 minutes of the debate were a four-man free-for-all among front-runner Rudy Giuliani and his closest rivals, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and John McCain.

Each fended off questions from Fox News moderators about a perceived vulnerability with the party's conservative wing, and each tried to turn the tables on a rival.

''Gov. Romney, you've been spending the last year trying to fool people about your record,'' said McCain, referring to Romney's changed positions on abortion and gay rights. ``I don't want you to start fooling them about mine.''

The Arizona senator got the only standing ovation of the night when he referred to his Vietnam War imprisonment, quipping that he was ''tied up'' during Woodstock.

Giuliani hit Thompson, a former Tennessee senator, calling him ''the single biggest obstacle'' to legislation that would make it harder to sue businesses and doctors.

Thompson came back at Giuliani, ticking off liberal stances he took as New York City mayor to promote gun control and keep city officials from reporting illegal immigrants seeking social services.

''He simply sides with Hillary Clinton on each of these issues I mentioned,'' Thompson said.

The debate capped a two-day state GOP convention where many of the activists said they had not settled on a candidate. Giuliani tops the polls in Florida, but his edge is narrower than Clinton's commanding lead in the state over her Democratic rivals.

In contrast to a widely panned performance the night before in which Thompson addressed the convention for less than five minutes, the sometime actor seemed animated and confident. Asked to respond to the charge that he's ''lazy,'' Thompson recounted a long biography marked by teenaged fatherhood and stints as a federal prosecutor and senator.

''If a man can do all that and be lazy, I recommend it to everybody,'' Thompson said -- though he left out his long career as a lobbyist. He added -- getting in the last word of the night -- that he's a father of five, with two children under the age of 4.

Underdog Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, got in one of the best one-liners: ''When Hillary's name is mentioned, it gets louder than an Aerosmith concert.'' In all, the GOP candidates mentioned the name ''Hillary'' 24 times. McCain was the only one to say he respects her.

Huckabee and the other three candidates struggled for attention, as they have at previous debates. But they brought a fresh batch of ideas to the fore and tried to avoid personal attacks.

''I'm kind of glad I wasn't in on the first few minutes because it was all about these guys fighting each other,'' Huckabee said. ``What I'm interested in is fighting for the American people, and I think they're looking for a presidential candidate who's not so interested in a demolition derby against the other people in his own party.''

U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter of California accused a Fox moderator of ''dividing the party'' with his questions. He then mentioned Cuba and criticized former President John F. Kennedy for allowing Fidel Castro to remain in power by sacrificing Bay of Pigs ``freedom fighters.''

''A thousand miles away from there is El Salvador, where a Republican president, Ronald Reagan, hung tough, brought freedom to El Salvador,'' Hunter said. ``And you know something? Today, they are fighting side by side with our guys in Iraq.''

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado later mentioned Cuba and said its healthcare system is worse than America's.

Ron Paul, the only antiwar Republican candidate, elicited jeers when he talked about Iraq, opposed intervention in Turkey's dispute with the Kurds, and knocked missile defense in Europe.

''We don't need to go looking for trouble,'' said the congressman from Texas. ``We don't need another Cold War. And all we have to do is start talking to people and trading with people. We don't need to assume that the world is going to blow up.''

When asked about whether Hillary Clinton was fit to be commander in chief, Romney let the audience's boos speak for themselves. He spoke most forcefully about his initiative in Massachusetts to provide more health insurance coverage, making sure to say it was not ``Hillary's way.''

Most of the candidates seemed in favor of allowing people to use private accounts for investing Social Security money. Huckabee said President Bush's mistake on the contentious issue was in using the word ''privatization'' instead of ``personalization.''

McCain took issue with Bush's oft-quoted statement that he could trust Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former Soviet spy, after looking into his eyes. ''I do know that when I looked into Mr. Putin's eyes, I saw three letters: a K, a G and a B,'' he said, calling Russia dangerous.

For Gov. Charlie Crist, a cheerleader for the nation's largest battleground state, the results of the debate sponsored by the state GOP were clear: ``Florida won.''