Republican Presidential Debate In Tampa

Republican Presidential Debate In Tampa.TAMPA - Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, have clashed repeatedly and strongly in a Republican presidential debate here Monday night, with the former Massachusetts governor attacked the former Speaker of the House failed as a leader, a peddler of influence of K Street and a candidate who would put the party at risk in the general election.

Romney, seeking to resume the offensive after a loss in the primary in South Carolina on Saturday that broke the GOP race open, adopted an attitude quite different from that displayed during the two debates dull last week. Forum on Monday, he kept the pressure on Gingrich, especially in the early stages, and tried to raise doubts about his ability to lead the party.

"You spent over 15 years on K Street in Washington," Romney said about the years of former President after he left Congress. "And it's a real problem if we nominate someone who not only had a record of great distress that the speaker, but has worked for 15 years of lobbying.”

Gingrich, whose pugnacious debating style helped propel him to victory in South Carolina, was much lower because it countered the attacks from Romney. He accused the former governor to make his facts wrong and distorted to the cost, and predicted that voters would reject such a policy.

Gingrich protested when Romney said the former president had lobbied members of Congress on legislation to add prescription drug coverage to Medicare. "You just missed a long way here, a friend," he said sarcastically. "Let me be very clear, because I understand your technique ... it will not work very well, because the American people see through it.”

The debate came at a crucial moment in the Republican presidential race, with Romney's candidacy suddenly at risk, with Gingrich unexpectedly strong in the running for the party nomination.

Two other candidates were on stage - former Senator Rick Santorum (Pennsylvania), who won the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3, and Ron Paul (Texas) - but the emphasis is now almost entirely on Romney and Newt Gingrich, and the tenor of the debate reflects the political reality. Much more than in some past forums, the two front-runners spent more time challenging each other to try to make a case against President Obama or describe their plan for economic recovery.

Although the exchange between Romney and Newt Gingrich pointed out, the debate, held at the University of South Florida, missing the carnival atmosphere of those of South Carolina, where the audience applauded loudly and pushed candidates.

The debate came as Romney, under pressure, released its 2010 tax returns and estimates for 2011. He acknowledged Sunday that his campaign had made a mistake by not taking action when the issue arose.

Earlier in the day, Romney demanded that Gingrich release its contract with the giant Freddie Mac housing, which has paid staff to former President about 1.6 million over a period of several years. Shortly before the debate, Gingrich had one of these contracts on its website of the campaign, showing an annual payment of $ 300 000.

But Romney was not ready to let go of the issue as he mocked his rival's claim in a forum earlier that he was hired as a historian of the agency and noted that the chief lobbyist for Freddie Mac brought him on board.

"If you read the contract very clear ... it supposed to do consulting work," Gingrich said. "The Governor did not consult work for years. I have never suggested that his consulting work was lobbying. ... There is no place in the contract that provides lobbying. I've never done lobbying. "
When Romney also accused Gingrich had lobbied members of Congress on a provision of drugs for Medicare, the former president protested?

"I am proud that I have publicly, openly advocated Medicare Part D," he said. "It has saved lives. It is run on a model of free enterprise."

Romney replied that one of the companies Gingrich was representing health care companies that stood to benefit from the adoption of legislation.

"You can call it what you want," said Romney. "I call influence peddling."

The issue of tenure Gingrich as Speaker of the House has also figured prominently at the beginning of this debate that the candidates who were eligible discussed.

"I think it's about leadership, and he had the opportunity to be the leader of our party in 1994," said Romney. "And at the end of four years, he had to resign in shame."

Gingrich describes his four years as a lecturer as one of the important achievements, including a balanced budget, social reform and the re-election of a Republican Congress.

"I left the presidency after the 1998 elections because I took responsibility for the fact that our results were not as good as they should be," he said. "I think is what a leader should do. "

He said his record of building the Republican Party, to help win the House in 1994 for the maintenance of these majorities, while he was speaker, was far superior to anything Romney can point to a governor and the head of the Republican Governors Association.

When Romney noted the House of reprimand Gingrich for ethics violations, Gingrich said he had asked Republicans to vote for her to get the matter behind him and the GOP-controlled House.

Paul jumped to support the evaluation of the Presidency of Romney Gingrich, saying: ". It was chaotic"

Paul also challenged the assertion that Gingrich will leave the presidency was a noble act of leadership following the GOP's disappointing election results in 1998.

"He did not have the votes," said Paul. "That was the problem. Thus, the idea that deliberately denied and that he would be punished because we did not well in the election, it's just not the way it was. "

The issue of time Romney at Bain Capital has come several times, with Romney again regretting that some of its rivals had picked up the "tools of the left" to advance their candidacy in the Republican primary.

When Santorum was asked about this, he hesitated - at first. He said he had never criticized the work of Romney at Bain but then leveled criticism at both the front runners. He wondered whether Romney or Gingrich is also committed to capitalism as they have supported the campaign, noting that both supported the bailout of Wall Street Federal in 2008.

"My question to Governor Romney and President Gingrich: If you believe in capitalism that much, then why did you support the bailout of Wall Street, where you had the opportunity to allow the destructive capitalism to work, to allow a failure of a - of a system were to fail because people have done things in capitalism pay, you pay a price?”

Closed the debate on Monday day of increasing attack by Romney and Gingrich a strong rebuttal.
When Romney demanded that Gingrich release records of his work as a consultant to Freddie Mac and other entities, as well as documents relating to the investigation of ethics, he warned that they would reveal "potentially unlawful activities. But neither he nor his advisers could cite anything specific that led the candidate to make such a statement.

Gingrich, campaigning in the Tampa area, he dismissed as a sign of someone who believes his candidacy to sink quickly in the wake of his loss in South Carolina. "It's such baloney," he said at a rally. "It used to be pious baloney, baloney now it's just hopeless."

After spending all last week on the defensive, Romney hopes to turn the tables on Gingrich. Momentum onetime now gone, Romney is counting on his superior organization and advance payment to gain an advantage in Florida, which will hold its first Tuesday.

Romney has an edge over the airwaves. It’s Super Pac, restore our future, spent $ 5 million in Florida, according to the Federal Election Commission filings. And his campaign has been on air for three weeks.

Gingrich is working overtime to catch up. On the heels of his South Carolina victory, his campaign has set a target of $ 1 million for a "money bomb" online, but quickly; he raised $ 2 million over two days. And the CAP support Gingrich, Winning our future, set a spending target of $ 10 million in primary in Florida.

Miriam Adelson - the wife of casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and hotel, including 5 million in donations have helped make Newt Gingrich competitive in South Carolina - Gingrich promised a Super Pac 5 million dollars this week, a source close to Adelson said. News of the Adelson gift was first reported by the Sun in Las Vegas.

Staff writers Amy Gardner and James V. Grimaldi Washington and Nia-Malika Henderson and Philip Rucker in Tampa contributed to this report.

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