The tension between Florida frontrunners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich was on full display Thursday night at the CNN Republican presidential debate in Jacksonville, Fla., as the candidates attacked one another on immigration, housing and personal issues in front of a televised national audience.
"The idea that I am anti-immigrant is repulsive," former Massachusetts governor Romney told Gingrich following the former House Speaker's live accusation. "You should apologize."
Gingrich and Romney are running ads against one another in the state, where they are currently neck-and-neck in current state polling.
Gingrich and Romney have both committed to heavily campaigning in Florida where 50 delegates are up for grabs for a single candidate in the Jan. 31 primary. (Florida chose to flout Republican National Committee rules and allocate all of their delegates in a winner-take-all system.)
Texas Rep. Ron Paul has chosen not to actively campaign in the state and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has been non-committal regarding whether he will even hold an Election Night party there.
In a rare moment of solidarity in the debate, Santorum and Gingrich voiced support for?Romney's "self-deportation" theory, which suggests illegal immigrants will leave the United States if they can't find suitable employment.
"I actually agree with Governor Romney," Santorum said. "We have to have a country that not only do you repect the law when you come here, you respect the law when you stay here."
Paul was the only candidate on stage Thursday night to disagree, saying he doesn't see the scenario playing out.
But Gingrich and Romney quickly turned on one another, sparring over immigration and the housing crisis.
Romney said Gingrich should have been "a whistleblower, not a horn tooter" on the housing crisis and highlighting Gingrich's work for housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Gingrich turned that around by accusing Romney of profiting from major entities that have gone into crisis including Fannie and Freddie as well as Goldman Sachs.
Romney's defense was "my investments are not made by me," but are instead managed in a blind trust. "Have you checked your own investments?" he asked Gingrich.
Gingrich hit back by accusing Romney of giving a hands off approach to wrangle himself out of controversial situations (he doesn't make his own investments, hadn't seen his own attack ads.)
At times, all the candidates expressed annoyance with debate moderator Wolf Blitzer's focus on the conflict between the two frontrunners.
"This subject really doesn't interest me a whole lot," Paul said when asked to comment on the two candidates' argument over their connections to the housing crisis.
"These two gentlemen are distracting from the most important issues we have," Santorum said.
Throughout the two-hour debate, Gingrich displayed more bravado and confidence than he had at Monday night's debate, in which the audience was not permitted to react. Many observers suggested Gingrich gives his best debate performances when he can win instant audience reactions.
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