AMES, Iowa -- The fierce battle between Republican presidential candidates Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann that has been waged at separate campaign stops across Iowa this week came to a head on Thursday when the two met for the first time on a debate stage here.
Though they joined six of their fellow rivals, including front-runner Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, who made his debate debut, the sparring between the two Minnesotans was so intense that, at times, it seemed like two-hour exchange was a one-on-one exchange between them.
Bachmann and Pawlenty, who are both competing in Saturday’s Ames Straw Poll, a crucial test of organizational support, have the most at stake in this state. And, they wasted little time in attacking each other in an effort to gain the upper hand heading into this weekend.
Pawlenty did not back off the frequent criticism of Bachmann he deploys in his campaign stump speeches, saying that she does not have enough executive experience to be president and no record of accomplishment in Congress.
For her part, Bachmann said that Pawlenty’s record as governor of Minnesota “sounds a lot more like Barack Obama, if you ask me.”
At one point, she turned toward Pawlenty, accusing him on implementing a cap-and-trade energy policy, a government-mandated health insurance plan and of falling short of his promise to shrink the size of government. Pawlenty shook his head as she spoke.
“I’m really surprised that Congresswoman Bachmann would say those things,” he fired back. “She has a record of misstating and making false statements.”
Turning Bachmann’s frequently-used line -- that she has a “titanium spine” -- against her, Pawlenty said, “It’s not her spine we’re worried about. It’s her record of results.”
In defending her vote for a Pawlenty-backed cigarette tax hike, Bachmann argued that the then-Governor “cut a deal with special interest groups,” that threatened pro-life policies.
Ms. Bachmann, who continues to lead in a series of recently released polls, shot back, saying Mr. Pawlenty’s record places him closer to President Obama than conservative voters.
“When you were governor in Minnesota, you implemented cap and trade in our state and you praised the unconstitutional individual mandate,” Ms. Bachmann said. “You said the era of small government is over.”
Rattling of a list of policies supported by Mr. Pawlenty, the Minnesota congresswoman said Mr. Pawlenty’s record would not find support amongst Republican voters.
“That sounds a lot like Barack Obama to me,” Bachmann said. “I have fought all of these unconstitutional measures against Barack Obama.”
Meanwhile, Ms. Bachmann, an outspoken critic of increasing the debt ceiling, called for prioritizing payments instead of raising the country’s borrowing limit, brushing aside the interest-rate impact on homeowners, college kids and other borrowers.
The jabs trade between the two Minnesota candidates came as eight members of a still emerging Republican presidential field gathered in Iowa two days before a closely watched straw poll to make their case for defeating President Obama amid an uncertain U.S. economy.
Mr. Romney, who has faced criticism for his support of a statewide health care system in Massachusetts, said such criticism is unwarranted and misguided.
We said, we’re finding people are going to the hospital and getting the state to pay for them. Taxpayers are picking up hundreds of millions of dollars of costs from people who are free riders,” Mr. Romney said, defending the policy. “We said we are going to insist those people who can afford to pay for themselves do so.”
“I’m not going to eat Barack Obama’s dog food,” Mr. Romney said when asked whether he would have vetoed the compromise legislation that Congress gave to the president that raised the debt ceiling. “What he served up is not what I would have as president of the United States.”
Speaking earlier in the day, Mr. Pawlenty made clear his differences with Ms. Bachmann, whom he has repeatedly said is unqualified to hold the presidency.
“One of the reasons we’re in this mess is because we put Barack Obama in the White House and he wasn’t ready for the job,” the former Minnesota governor told a crowd of supporters. “Before we put the new person in that office, let’s make sure that he or she is ready for the job,” Mr. Pawlenty said. “This is a job that requires leadership experience, executive experience and a record of results.”
Ms. Bachmann’s campaign shot back late Thursday, handing out to members of the press at the debate a two-page document entitled “The Big Government of Tim Pawlenty.”
The debate comes just days before the Ames Republican Presidential Straw Poll, which is slated to take place Sunday. Mr. Pawlenty admitted Thursday that his chances of winning the Iowa caucus could depend heavily on whether his campaign wins the key poll.
“We’ve been careful not to put a number on what place we’ve been in, only that we think it’s important to show movement from the back of the pack to the front of the pack,” said Pawlenty spokesman Alex Conant. “It’s very hard to predict how the other candidates will do and how the results will be interpreted.
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