It was sponsored by Politico and broadcast by MSNBC.
The debate marked the first appearance against his rivals by Texas Governor Rick Perry.
| OnTheIssues.org excerpts: (click on issues for details)
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Budget & Economy
Herman Cain: 9-9-9 economic growth: stop picking winners & losers.
Michele Bachmann: Problem is $1 in tax increases for each $3 in spending.
Mitt Romney: I understand how the economy works because I lived in it.
Mitt Romney: Let middle-income Americans save money tax-free.
Mitt Romney: QE2 didn't work; focus on jobs & higher growth.
Newt Gingrich: The Fed's secrecy & power are antithetical to a free society.
Newt Gingrich: Put people back to work to raise revenues without taxes.
Rick Perry: Keynesian theory is now done; never again in America.
Rick Perry: Balanced Budget Amendment is the only way to sleep at night.
Ron Paul: 1980s had huge deficits, despite Reagan's message.
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Corporations
Rick Santorum: Cut the corporate tax to zero, to create jobs.
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Crime
Rick Perry: If you kill a TX citizen, you will face ultimate justice.
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Drugs
Ron Paul: Our drug war is driving our immigration policy.
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Education
Newt Gingrich: I liked charter school programs in Obama's Race to the Top.
Rick Perry: We reduced school spending in TX and raised graduation rates.
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Energy & Oil
Jon Huntsman: Gas is $13/gal if we count cost of troop deployments.
Michele Bachmann: Goal is to keep gas prices low, like $1.79 a gallon.
Rick Perry: Don't put economy in jeopardy based on unsettled science.
Rick Perry: FactCheck: Yes, climate change is settled science.
Ron Paul: I can get you a gallon of gas for a silver dime.
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Environment
Michele Bachmann: EPA rulemaking has been based on politics, not science.
Rick Perry: We reduced NO2 and ozone in TX without scientists dictating.
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Families & Children
Michele Bachmann: Best results when family involved; worst with government.
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Foreign Policy
Michele Bachmann: Biggest issue in Middle East is nuclear Iran.
Rick Perry: America shouldn't be in the business of adventurism.
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Government Reform
Ron Paul: I believe in market regulation, but not federal regulation.
Ron Paul: Everything government does is a mandate.
Ron Paul: Don't use Executive Orders for controversial laws.
Ron Paul: FEMA just conditioned people to build where they shouldn't.
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Health Care
Jon Huntsman: We reformed UT healthcare without mandates.
Michele Bachmann: ObamaCare is killing jobs.
Michele Bachmann: FactCheck: CBO never claimed ObamaCare was a job-killer.
Mitt Romney: On Day One, ObamaCare waivers to all 50 states.
Rick Perry: Individual mandate just won't work.
Rick Perry: Wipe out ObamaCare; block grant healthcare back to states.
Rick Perry: TX wants freedom for healthcare menus & co-pays; feds refuse.
Rick Perry: HillaryCare did not address agricultural needs.
Rick Perry: I hate cancer; inoculate girls against HPV.
Rick Perry: FactCheck: Yes, Perry sought mandatory HPV immunizations.
Ron Paul: Markets instead of lobbyists writing drug laws.
Ron Paul: Vaccinating 12-year-olds against HPV is bad medicine.
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Homeland Security
Herman Cain: Fix FEMA; don't abolish FEMA.
Jon Huntsman: We need a DHS that doesn't make us feel like a shakedown.
Jon Huntsman: 9-11 shattered our innocence and lost our confidence.
Newt Gingrich: We have enemies that want disasters on an enormous scale.
Rick Perry: Unprincipled to create Department of Homeland Security.
Rick Perry: Glad Obama kept Gitmo open; America is safer because of it.
Rick Santorum: Department of Homeland Security fixed an internal mess.
Ron Paul: Abolish the TSA; let airlines establish security.
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Immigration
Herman Cain: Secure the border with more boots on the ground.
Jon Huntsman: Focus on fixing legal immigration as well as illegal.
Michele Bachmann: Our immigration law worked beautifully until 1960s.
Michele Bachmann: Lack of border fence yields our sovereignty.
Mitt Romney: Build 2,600-mile fence with enough guards to secure it.
Mitt Romney: Turn off the magnet that attracts immigrants.
Newt Gingrich: Require official English plus American history.
Newt Gingrich: I voted for Reagan's legal guest worker program.
Rick Perry: El Paso border is not safe until we have boots on the ground.
Rick Santorum: No tricks like 1986; secure the border first.
Rick Santorum: No promises & no government benefits to immigrants.
Ron Paul: ID cards and border fences are not the American way.
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Jobs
Mitt Romney: Bain Capital created thousands of jobs during my time there.
Mitt Romney: America is an extraordinary jobs machine.
Mitt Romney: FactCheck: Reduced unemployment in MA from 5.6% to 4.7%.
Mitt Romney: FactCheck: Jobs grew faster in MA under Romney's predecessor.
Rick Perry: We created 1M jobs in TX while US lost 2.5M.
Rick Perry: FactCheck: Texas has highest number of minimum wage workers.
Rick Perry: FactCheck: Jobs grew faster in TX under Perry's predecessors.
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Principles & Values
Mitt Romney: Me & Tea Party are both for small government & low spending.
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Social Security
Herman Cain: Chilean model: they fixed the same broken system as US.
Mitt Romney: Funding for Social Security is not working, but system works.
Rick Perry: It's a monstrous lie that young people will get benefits.
Rick Perry: Cannot keep the Social Security status quo.
Rick Perry: FactCheck: Softened "fraud" rhetoric in current campaign.
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Tax Reform
Herman Cain: 9-9-9 economic plan: 9% income tax + 9% sales tax.
Jon Huntsman: Let's take a pledge to not take any pledges, including taxes.
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Technology
Jon Huntsman: For GOP to win, we can't run from science.
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War & Peace
Jon Huntsman: Bring troops home from Afghanistan.
Michele Bachmann: It was wrong for US to go into Libya.
Rick Santorum: No isolationism on Libya; but Obama did it wrong.
Ron Paul: Cut $20B in Green Zone air conditioning to force troops home.
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Welfare & Poverty
Ron Paul: Welfare state isn't in the Constitution.
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