'I Led. He Lagged'

October 9, 2007— -- Mitt Romney may have pulled off the funniest line Tuesday by comparing the G.O.P.'s sixth debate to an interminable Law & Order episode with a large cast where Fred Thompson "shows up at the end."

Watch it: LINK

But the exchange that mattered most at Tuesday's Dust-Up in Dearborn came when Rudy Giuliani effectively defended his position on the line-item veto.

"I don't think it's a bad idea to have a Republican presidential candidate who has actually beat Bill Clinton at something," said Giuliani.

The line-item veto exchange allowed Giuliani to once again use the Clintons as a foil while positioning himself as the "strict constructionist" on the Constitution.

The former New York mayor was also savvy in not ceding any ground to Romney on the broader issue of who is better on taxes and spending.

Romney, by contrast, conceded that both he and Giuliani are "in favor of keeping spending down and keeping taxes down" while arguing that the only real difference between the two men is that he never would have gone to the Supreme Court to get the line-item veto overturned.

But when pressed on whether the version of the line-item veto which was overturned in the 1990s was unconstitutional, Romney seemed to acknowledge that the one which had passed Congress was not "properly structured."

This provided an opening for Giuliani.

"The line item veto is unconstitutional," said Giuliani. "You don't get to believe about it; the Supreme Court has ruled on it. So you can bang your head up against the stone wall all you want. I am in favor of a line item veto, except you have to do it legally."

Giuliani also used the debate to claim credit for Clinton's decision not to propose a $5,000 "baby bond."

Clinton floated the idea, which was never a formal proposal, on Sept. 28. She confirmed in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal that she was not going to formally propose the idea, which has been promoted by various think tanks. LINK and LINK