NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Newt Gingrich angrily turned aside questions about his marital history at the outset of the final Republican presidential debate before the South Carolina primary, and then aggressively took on Mitt Romney and the other remaining candidates in a raucous confrontation on Thursday night aboutimmigration, abortion, conservative credentials and electability.
With the field of candidates now down to four and Saturday’s primary fast approaching, the candidates engaged in intensely personal verbal combat fittingly set in a sports coliseum.
Mr. Romney told Mr. Gingrich that for all his talk aligning himself with Ronald Reagan during his days in Congress, “I looked at the Reagan diary; you’re mentioned once.” Mr. Santorum questioned Mr. Gingrich’s grip on logic, at one point telling him, “These are not cogent thoughts” and more generally accusing him of grandiosity and instability.
Mr. Gingrich gave it right back to both of them, pointedly raising Mr. Romney’s past position in favor of abortion rights — a stance Mr. Romney has since changed — and implying that Mr. Santorum’s ideas were too small for the challenges of the times.
And Mr. Gingrich delighted much of the audience at the debate with his attack on the moderator, John King, of CNN, who began the proceeding by asking the former House speaker about his ex-wife’s allegations that Mr. Gingrich asked “to enter into an open marriage.”
Mr. Gingrich met the question with cold anger, winning roars of approval from the debate audience as he said through nearly clenched teeth, “I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that.” But he ultimately said of his ex-wife Marianne’s allegations, reported first on Thursday by ABC News, “The story is false.”
The new dynamic at play in the campaign was apparent on the stage, which looked starkly different from those of previous debates, with only four lecterns after the departures of Gov. Rick Perry of Texas from the race earlier in the day and Jon M. Huntsman Jr. on Monday.
With Mr. Gingrich gaining in polls against Mr. Romney, Mr. Santorum seeking momentum on news that he had the most votes in the Iowa caucuses, and RepresentativeRon Paul of Texas fighting to get back into the mix after campaigning only lightly here, no candidate had a free pass.
To the extent that any of the other candidates were hoping to seriously knock Mr. Romney off stride, none seemed to do so to any substantial degree, though they collectively pushed him hard on the similarities between his health care plan and the one championed by President Obama, and on his previous support for abortion rights during his political career in Massachusetts.
“I’m not questioned on character and integrity very often,” Mr. Romney responded, adding, “I don’t feel like standing here for that.”
After Mr. Santorum implied that Mr. Romney was of the sort who would “whisper into the microphone that they’re pro-life” as opposed to people like him who “go out and fight the battle,” Mr. Romney said sternly, “I did my very best to be a pro-life governor. I will be a pro-life president.”
Mr. Gingrich, who released his tax returns as the debate was under way, smiled with satisfaction when Mr. King raised the question of whether Mr. Romney would do the same.
Mr. Romney joked about his new status as an also-ran in Iowa, saying that he wished he could go back and win more votes there. If there was a worst moment for Mr. Romney, it was when he was asked by Mr. King whether he would follow the lead of his father, who released 12 years of tax returns when he was running for president in 1968.
“Maybe,” he said at first drawing some laughter but then boos from the crowd when he went on to say, “I don’t know how many years I’ll release. I’ll take a look at what our documents are.”
But as much as anything, the campaign at this stage is about the competition to be the leading conservative alternative to Mr. Romney, a scrum involving Mr. Gingrich, Mr. Santorum and Mr. Paul — some of whose supporters were in the crowd and let their displeasure be known when they believed he was being neglected by Mr. King.
Mr. Santorum and Mr. Gingrich went after each other with considerable vigor if not venom, at one point leaving Mr. Romney to stand aside to watch, relaxed and smiling.
Mr. Santorum delivered a detailed and blistering critique questioning Mr. Gingrich’s ability to serve in the Oval Office. He pointedly accused his rival of “grandiose” views that would cloud his judgment and interfere with the leadership required of a chief executive. He accused him of turning a blind eye to the check-writing scandal in Congress.
He accused Mr. Gingrich of showing “no discipline, no ability to be able to pull things together,” in Congress, and said he presented the frequent “worrisome moment that something’s going to pop.” By contrast, he said, “I’m not the most flamboyant and I don’t get the biggest applause lines here, but I’m steady. I’m solid. I’m not going to go out and do things that you’re going to worry about.”
Mr. Gingrich sought to belittle his opponent and fired back dismissively, saying, “Long before Rick came to Congress, I was busy being a rebel.” He said that he would not apologize for proposing bold ideas and presenting big views.
“I spent 16 years on a grandiose project called creating a Republican majority in the House,” Mr. Gingrich said. He added, “You’re right, I think grandiose thoughts. This is a grandiose country of big people doing big things.”
On immigration, Mr. Santorum also sought to paint two of his challengers as insufficiently conservative. He accused Mr. Romney of reversing himself from four years ago when he supported a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants who are already in the country. He asserted that Mr. Gingrich was even more unacceptable to conservatives, saying that he holds “President Obama’s position” on granting amnesty.
Mr. Santorum at one point even accused both Mr. Romney and Mr. Gingrich of “playing footsies with the left” on health care for their previous support for health insurance mandates.
Mr. Gingrich, who is closer in polls to Mr. Romney than he has been at this point of any nominating contest yet, continued his criticism of Mr. Romney’s time at the investment firm Bain Capital. He raised examples of companies that lost jobs under Mr. Romney’s time at the company, declaring that Mr. Romney “should explain” himself.
Mr. Romney received enthusiastic applause as he defended capitalism. He said that he found it “strange” that the attacks were coming from “the people on this stage.”
“I know we’re going to get hit hard from President Obama,” Mr. Romney said, “But we’re going to stuff it down his throat and point out it is capitalism and freedom that makes America strong.”
While Mr. Paul was often left out of the discussion during a debate that did not include questions about his premier issues of the deficit, national debt or foreign policy, he asserted his strong opposition to abortion and did not hesitate to make an allusion to the pressure on Mr. Gingrich about his marriages. “I’m very proud,” Mr. Paul said, “that my wife of 54 years is with me tonight.”
SOURCE:NEW YORK TIMES
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