Republicans on the offensive in online debate

THE first attack advert of the Republican presidential campaign was aired during a blistering debate full of squabbles and personal attacks in St Petersburg, Florida, on Wednesday night.

The first half of the debate was dominated by frontrunners - Mormon former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani - as the eight candidates were questioned by average Americans via youtube.com on Iraq, abortion, the weak dollar and immigration.

This was an important debate for Mr Giuliani who outraged New Yorkers earlier in the day when allegations surfaced he had cost the city’s taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars to cover security costs while holidaying with his mistress and tried to cover it up.

The debate got heated very quickly on the immigration issue when Mr Romney accused Mr Giuliani of turning New York into a “sanctuary city” for illegal immigrants. The former mayor in turn accused Mr Romney of running a “sanctuary mansion” employing undocumented workers.

The candidates spent surprisingly little time on Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr Giuliani insisted America stay on the offensive, Senator Fred Thompson advocated staying long enough to win, while John McCain trotted out his Vietnam credentials, blamed American public opinion for losing the Vietnam war and remained adamant that not happen in Iraq.

The debate became bitter on the issue of Guantanamo Bay and torture when Mr McCain — who spent years as a Vietnam prisoner of war — accused Mr Romney of being ill-informed on torture, violating the Geneva Convention and of supporting something un-American.

It was downhill from there for Mr Romney.

Baptist pastor and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee gained momentum on topics like the bible, gun control and abortion. He managed to reconcile a pro-death penalty position with his anti-abortion position, while Mr Romney and Mr Giuliani floundered. Mr Romney has flip-flopped on abortion and Mr Giuliani deems it a state decision, not a presidential one, to avoid further alienating the conservative Republican base that disapproves of his pro-choice stance. Ultimately the night was Mr Giuliani’s and involved a number of attacks on Hillary Clinton but Mr Huckabee had the final word.

When asked about the space programme, Mr Huckabee said he supported putting Ms Clinton on the first rocket to Mars.