GOP candidates spar over immigration issue

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Eight Republican presidential contenders clashed Wednesday over immigration, interrogation techniques for prisoners and the Iraq war in a sharp-elbowed debate filled with pointed and personal attacks.

The debate started out with several big bangs as candidates tackled the sensitive issue of immigration in a state where, as of 2006, 19% of the population is foreign born, according to the Census. Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, accused Rudy Giuliani of operating a "sanctuary city" for illegal immigrants when he was mayor of New York City.

Giuliani retorted that Romney had a "sanctuary mansion" — a reference to reports that contractors working on Romney's home employed illegal immigrants. "Kind of offensive" was what Romney said of Giuliani's attack. "Holier than thou" was how Giuliani described Romney's position on the immigration issue.

The sizzling exchange was typical of the aggressive energy that marked a debate in which, as Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., noted before it began, a number of candidates were seeking a breakthrough.

Former senator Fred Thompson used the 30-second video that his campaign submitted to attack two rivals, Romney and Mike Huckabee. Sen. John McCain attacked Rep. Ron Paul for backing a pullout from Iraq — "That kind of isolationism is what got us involved in World War II," McCain told the Texas lawmaker — and Romney for refusing to rule out the use of "waterboarding" in the interrogations of terror suspects.

"I'm astonished … that anyone could believe it's not torture," said McCain, who was tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

Sponsored by CNN and YouTube, the debate featured some unorthodox questions, including several by cartoon characters, submitted by voters via YouTube's online video uploading service. But the colorful questions, which drew much attention prior to the debate, were overshadowed by the often hostile interplay among the candidates.

The debate came at a crucial time and in a crucial state.

Romney is ahead in the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, the states where the first of the presidential eliminations will be held in January. But polls show him trailing Giuliani in Florida, which votes Jan. 29, the first of the nation's most populous states to cast primary ballots.

And now Romney, who has been portraying himself as the conservative alternative to Giuliani, is getting some competition on his right flank. An Insider Advantage poll taken earlier this week showed Huckabee, a Baptist minister and former governor of Arkansas, moving into second place in Florida, with 17% of the vote to Giuliani's 26%. The poll put Romney at 12%.

On Tuesday, Huckabee won the endorsement of a key Florida conservative, state Senate Majority Leader Daniel Webster.

The debate's early focus on immigration delighted Tom Tancredo, a Colorado congressman who has made his vow to limit immigration, legal and illegal, a signature of his campaign. He said other contenders were trying to "out-Tancredo Tancredo."

Thompson and Rep. Duncan Hunter of California endorsed a get-tough approach on illegal immigration, but McCain and Huckabee urged some accommodation for illegal immigrants. "They are God's children, too," McCain said.

Huckabee defended his decision, as Arkansas governor, to back scholarships for the children of illegal immigrants. "We are a better country than to punish children for what their parents did," he said.

Florida voters run the gamut from retired New Yorkers who thronged to the state's southeast coast — a key Giuliani stronghold — to retired Midwesterners on the Gulf Coast, to more traditional Southerners in the state's northern Panhandle.

"What Floridians are thinking is what the nation is thinking," said Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer.

The setting for the debate emphasized Florida's diversity. On one side of the Mahaffey Theater, where the candidates met, St. Petersburg's homeless set up an encampment.

On the other side of the theater, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the tall-masted sailboats and roomy motorboats berthed at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club.

Nearly 5,000 video questions were submitted for the GOP session, about 2,000 more than the Democratic debate. CNN had 60-70 videos ready, some that were directed specifically to a candidate and others that were more general.