Live blogging the Republican presidential debate

And then there were five.

- Jason George

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Updated: 10:45 p.m. EST

That's all folks. The two-hour debate was cut to about 100 minutes at the requests of the candidates, at least that's what Brian Williams said.

What was the highlight?

Nothing too crazy tonight – all in all it was the tamest of affairs.
Perhaps what was most impressive was when Russert spent what seemed like a full five minutes going after Romney, questioning him about giving money to his own campaign and many Americans still saying they won't vote for a Mormon.
Romney handled both questions with ease and used the valuable time to get into several of his talking points. For a moment, you could've forgot other candidates were on the stage.

And so much for our Rudy 9/11 Watch – he never mentioned the day once, except indirectly.

Who did come up?

John McCain's mother was mentioned in three separate instances. Chuck Norris came up twice, and Sylvester Stalone was invoked once.

The name most mentioned tonight (beyond Bush and those on stage)?

Hillary Clinton – Romney, McCain and Giuliani all took shots at her, never once mentioning Senators Barack Obama or Edwards.

While that might demonstrate that the Republicans don't consider them a threat, I doubt the two men minded being left out of the discussion.

Good night.

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Updated: 10:36 p.m. EST

McCain says he knows "its unusual," but he jumps in to say that Giuliani is an American hero because of 9/11.

He did this just after Williams reads part of tomorrow's NYT editorial, which says that Giuliani is "a narrow, obsessively secretive, vindictive man who saw no need to limit police power…Mr. Giuliani’s arrogance and bad judgment are breathtaking."

Giuliani nods his thanks to McCain, who the paper did endorse.

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Updated: 10:32 p.m. EST

Williams asked Romney about the other candidates saying he's a flip-flopper and how they don't like him.

Romney says that's fine.

"I'm not going to Washington to make friend with politicians. I'm going to Washington to change things."

Obama did not jump on stage to tell Romney he was "likable enough."

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Updated: 10:22 p.m. EST

Russert says that when Paul ran for president as a Libertarian in 1988 he said he wanted to abolish social security. Does he still support that?

Yep, he says, but he'd phase it out.
He says he'll pay for all the people currently receiving benefits by taking all the money being spent oversees – on war and aid – and fund those currently on the rolls.

Huckabee says fixing the tax code would save social security.

Romney says he won't raise taxes to fix the social security shortfall. There are three other ways you can solve the problem of social security, he says. They are:
1) Create personal accounts for those who want to opt out
2) Reduce benefits for wealthy Americans
3) Change retirement age

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Updated: 10:10 p.m. EST

Finally Brian Williams addresses the elephant in the room and asks Giuliani about what he thinks about sliding 30+ points in Florida polls in the past 10 months.
"This has become a very competitive race," Giuliani says, saying he'll be like the NY Giants and win (as they did last week).

"We have them all lulled into a very false sense of security now," he says in the night's best joke so far, which deservedly got a good laugh from the crowd.

" We're going to come from behind and we're going to win here in Florida."

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Updated: 10:00 p.m. EST

The part where the candidates get to ask another candidate one question fails to deliver flares.
Note that Romney gets two questions. No one asks Paul anything.

Giuliani asks Romney: Do you support the proposed National Catastrophic Fund, which McCain doesn't? (It's very popular in Florida.)

Romney replies: "I do support some kind of fund"
-Says it could be a state's program, a public-private partnership, but says he doesn't support people in all the states subsidizing those in accident-prone states like Florida.

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Huckabee asks Romney: You say you support the Second Amendment, then why you also support the assault weapon ban and the Brady bill?

Romney replies: "I do support the second amendment."
"I also, like the president, would've signed the assault weapon ban that was on his desk."

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Paul asks McCain: How would you handle economics in your administration?

McCain replies: He relies on a circle to handle such stuff. Points out he already has economic advisers like Jack Kemp and Phil Gramm.
"I would rely on the circle," he says.

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McCain asks Huckabee: How do you answer the criticism that the FairTax, a proposed national sales tax Huckabee supports, wouldn’t cause poorer Americans more of the pain and burden of running government?

Huckabee replies: "It actually un-taxes the poor, un-taxes the elderly," he says, referring to the "prebate" offered through the FairTax. (For details of this, go to their Web site.)
"I want to put the IRS out of business."
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Romney asks Giuliani: How do we make sure we level the playing field on trade with China?

Giuliani replies: "The reality is China is a great opportunity for America and a great challenge to America."
"I think we should be working with China to push down some of these barriers."
-Giuliani says 20 to 30 million people are rising out of poverty each year in China.
"That's 20 or 30 million people we can be selling things to. "

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Updated: 9:41 p.m. EST

Russert asks them all: Was it a good idea, worth the country's "blood and treasure," to go to war in Iraq?

Romney:

"It was the right decision to go into Iraq. I supported it then and I support it now."
-Adds war was under-managed and understaffed for a while, but it is working now.

Huckabee:

"I supported the president when he led us into to this, as did the Democrats, and we owe him not our scorn, but our thanks."
"It's easy to second guess a president."

Paul:

"It was a very bad idea and it wasn't worth it."

[Applause from crowd…only answer this happens on]

Giuliani:
"I was for it when 6 out of 10 [of Americans] were for it, I'm for it when 6 out of 10 are against it."

McCain:

"It was worth getting rid of Saddam Hussein."

-He blames Rumsfield for mishandling. "Now we're on the right track."

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Updated: 9:30 p.m. EST

Russert keeps at all the candidates about the economic downturn happening under a Republican watch in the White House and in Congress (until recently.)

McCain says the Republicans deserve some blame, saying such talk is, you guessed it, Straight Talk.

Both Huckabee and Romney see the opening and both say they weren't in Washington so you can't blame them – they're 'Washington Outsiders.'

Giuliani gives a similar answer, saying he turned around the NYC economy.

Rep. Ron Paul says just because he's been in Congress, doesn't mean he's for taxing. He points out that he's never voted for a tax increase.

"I'm known as the taxpayers best friend," he says. "I'm not part of that crowd" of Washington.

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Updated: 9:20 p.m. EST

9/11-RudyWatch

Guiliani mentions Ground Zero, not 9/11, but close enough.
Reference: 1

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Updated: 9:17 p.m. EST

Tim Russert asks former Gov. Huckabee if he thinks Romney can be trusted with the country's finances as he oversaw $250,000 in fees increases while he was governor.

Huckabee doesn't take the bait, saying that's up to the voters.

"I know this – I balanced a budget every year I was a governor," Huckabee said.

Then the former Arkansas governor goes for the bombastic, arguing that the $150 million for U.S. rebates will probably have to be borrowed from China, and then people will buy goods from China.

His solution instead?

No rebates, but expanding Interstate 95 by two lanes "from Bangor, Maine to Miami."

" I believe it would do more to stimulate the economy," he said.

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Updated: 9:07 p.m. EST

The first question is to Romney, when Brian Williams asks the former governor if he is disappointed with the stimulus package Bush signed today, which differs from his plan.
"There is a great deal that is effective in his plan I just wish it went further," Romney said.

Romney mentions helping reverse the housing crisis and making permanent tax cut for people in the lowest tax bracket.

"I look forward to taking it further," he said.

That's frontrunner talk, but that's what Romney is: In a MSNBC/McClatchey/Mason Dixon poll released earlier today, Romney is in the lead at 30 percent. McCain sits within the 5 percent margin of error for first place at 26 percent. Giuliani – who has basically lived in the state for months – is in 3rd (18 percent), followed by Huckabee at 13 percent.

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