The 2012 presidential campaign officially kicked off Thursday night with the first Republican debate. The major candidates were missing from the event, including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, but the forum allowed five lesser-known GOP hopefuls to begin to define themselves on a variety of issues, from the war in Afghanistan to immigration and gay marriage.
The most high-profile candidate at the event, which took place at the Peace Center for the Performing Arts in Greenville, S.C., was former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who announced his intention to run just a few weeks ago and is trailing in early polling. The other four participants were Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain.
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Pawlenty attacked President Obama as weak on foreign policy despite the weekend killing of Osama bin Laden. Along with Cain and Santorum, Pawlenty raised his hand when moderator Bret Baier of Fox News asked whether the candidates would support using the interrogation technique known as waterboarding in some circumstances. Pawlenty also said Obama waited too long to begin airstrikes over Libya.
Santorum said Obama found bin Laden by continuing policies put in place by Republican President George W. Bush. Paul said the death of bin Laden presents “a wonderful time for this country to assess and get the troops out of Afghanistan.”
The war, he said, “hasn’t helped us or helped anybody in the Middle East.”
Johnson said he was always opposed to the war in Iraq and believes the United States should stay out of Libya. Johnson only initially supported the war in Afghanistan. “After six months, I think we pretty effectively have taken care of al Qaeda, but that was 10 years ago,” Johnson said. “In my opinion this is crazy.”
While the candidates diverged on foreign policy, they agreed on domestic issues, though some proposed more radical solutions for trimming spending.
Paul suggested letting the United States reach its debt limit this summer without raising it, while Santorum said Republicans should not agree to allow the federal government to borrow more unless the deal includes repealing the health care reform law.
“It’s the most important issue that faces this country right now,” Santorum said. “As conservatives and Republicans, we have to stand up and say no, we are not going to let this bill be implemented. It must be stopped and we should do it now.”
Johnson promoted the idea of repealing the corporate income tax in order to create jobs.
“Let’s abolish it and make it the way it was to begin with, that will create millions of jobs because this will be the only place to grow and establish businesses.
Johnson at one point interrupted the moderators, who had been focusing most of their attention on Pawlenty and Santorum, the two better-known candidates.
“There have been a lot of questions for these guys, and none for me,” Johnson complained.
Underscoring the low profile of some of the candidates, Baier at one point asked Cain, who has never served in public office, “Why do you have any belief you stand a chance to win this nomination, let alone the presidency?”
Cain said his lack of experience is exactly why he is the best candidate.
“I ask people, most of the elected officials have held public office before. How’s that working for you?” he said. “We have a mess in Washington. How about sending a problem solver to the White House?”
