As John McCain and Mitt Romney fought each other for the party’s top spot prelude to Super Tuesday, both attacked one another’s conservative credentials. The sharpest part of the exchange would come when Romney was asked about McCain’s charge that he had at one point supported a strict timetable for removing the troops from Iraq.
However, Romney denied the charge and said that McCain took a small part of his quote out of context.
“It’s simply wrong,” Romney addressed. He added: “By the way, raising it a few days before the Florida primary, when there was very little time for me to correct the record, falls in the kind of dirty tricks that Ronald Reagan would have found reprehensible.”
In response, McCain accused Romney of hedging after public support for the war in Iraq had waned.
“I was on the front lines with my friends saying we not only can’t withdraw but we’ve got to have additional troops over there in order for us to have a chance to succeed,” McCain said.
Currently, McCain has won in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida and hopes to solidify his position as national Republican frontrunner. Romney who has won Michigan, Nevada, and Wyoming hopes to counter McCain’s run for the GOP nomination.
Mike Huckabee who had won Iowa hoped to put himself in a good position with Evangelicals and other conservatives to come up on top after consecutive losses since that one win.
The day of the debate was also on the day that McCain received a pair of major endorsements that can deliver two of Super Tuesday’s most valuable states.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani dropped out after losing in Florida. Upon drooping out of the race, he endorsed McCain. Later in the day, CNN gave the report that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger also endorsed McCain.
New York and California both have the largest number of delegates up for grabs on Super Tuesday.
Eventually, all four candidates in addressing the economy said they support the stimulus package going through Congress. However, Mike Huckabee gave the suggestion that investing in infrastructure instead of tax rebates would be better.
“Infrastructure in this country has been neglected,” Huckabee said. He explained: “I don’t think there’s a governor in this country that wouldn’t tell you that you’ll create more jobs and you’ll build it with American workers, American concrete and American steel. That’s stimulus.”
In regards to immigration, Romney said all the illegal immigrants must return home and wait in line like everybody else.
“People who come here legally are a great source of vitality and strength for our country, but illegal immigration – that’s got to end,” Romney said in that regard.
McCain said it’s the American people’s responsibility to secure borders.
“If we don’t have a secure fence and have just this open door that people can come in and out at will, we’re never going to deal with this issue effectively and responsibly,” Huckabee explained.
He added: “It’s not that we’re building a fence so we can keep our people in our keep people out, but that people who do come here would have to come legally.”
McCain would also attack Romney’s credentials as a successful business leader when asked about whom would best run the country.
“I think he managed companies and he bought and he sold and sometimes people lost their jobs,” McCain answered. He added: “That’s the nature of that business.”
It is noted by critics that while Romney was the CEO of Bain Capital had caused thousands of jobs to be lost through layoffs and bankruptcies. Romney ran the company from 1984 to 1999. In that time, Romney earned most of his fortune.
The company would buy troubled companies and revamp them. It often did this by slashing jobs and closing plants. Some of the purchases were efficient. However, the others were loaded with debt and were forced into bankruptcy.
Earlier in the debate, Romney would talk about a perceived rift between McCain and the conservative base of the GOP.
“He’s a good Republican; I wouldn’t question those credentials at all,” Romney said in regards to McCain. He added: “But there are a number of pieces of legislation where his views are out of the mainstream, at least in my view, of conservative Republican thought.”
He also attacked McCain for opposing the drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge located in Alaska. McCain defended his stances in response.
According to CNN analyst Bill Schneider, it would look as Huckabee looked the best. But most analysts have said that both Romney and Huckabee failed to score moments that could derail the momentum that McCain is generating.