Frontrunners

Romney, Perry Take Over Debate

Spar over rhetoric, policies.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney dominated Wednesday's Republican debate by trading barbs over each other's policies and rhetoric. Romney attacked Perry as being a "career politician," Perry took on Romney's universal-health-care program—and both went after each other for their job-creation records. At one point the debate became so heated that they were chastised by Newt Gingrich, who said, "Whoever the nominee is, we're all for defeating Obama." When attacked about climate change, Perry attempted to defend his position, saying it is based on "science that's not settled yet ... Galileo got outvoted for a spell." The other candidates tried to chime in, with Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann slamming President Obama's gas prices and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum attacking Perry's institution of an HPV cancer vaccine for girls as young as 12.