GOP Hopefuls Debate Abortion, Tax Cuts, and Gun Control

The leading Republican presidential contenders defended their credentials on Tuesday night during a discussion of abortion, gun control, and tax cuts.
"I ultimately do believe in a woman's right of choice, but I think there are ways we can look for ways to reduce abortions," former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was quoted as saying in the second debate of the campaign.

The former Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, says he has signed a legislation that has banned assault weapons, yet he added that he is a supporter of gun rights under the second amendment. And even though Senator John McCain, of Arizona, voted against tax cuts back in 2001, he now says he wants to make sure they are made permanent. His reason? That they were not accompanied by spending cuts.

The three men took part in a 90-minute debate at the University of South Carolina.

Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado believes that McCain, Romney and Giuliani are soft on immigration laws. He also added that his rivals have undergone recent conversions on abortion issues and other hot topics.

"I trust those conversions when they happen on the road to Damascus and not on the road to Des Moines," he was quoted as saying.

Jim Gilmore, the former governor of Virginia, chimed in as well. "Some of the people on this stage were very liberal in characterizing themselves as conservatives, particularly on the issues of abortion and taxes and health care," he said. He pointed out that rival Mike Huckabee had raised taxes while serving as governor of Arkansas.

Huckabee responded to the accusation by countering that the state had raised the taxes only in response to a court order. He insisted that he had cut taxes repetitively.

Guiliani was seen as being on the defense for much of the evening. He did challenge Rep. Ron Paul's suggestion that the U.S. bombing of Iraq had actually contributed to the terrorist attacks of the year 2001.

Giuliani was the New york mayor at the time of the terrorist attacks on United States soil and responded to that statement with, "I don't think I've ever heard that before, and I have heard some pretty absurd explanations." This statement brought some of the loudest applause of the night from the partisan audience.

The former mayor also criticized the democratic front-runner, Senator Hillary Clinton, in a response to a question concerning abortion. One of the debate monitors, Chris Wallas of Fox, then asked if the mayor would answer the question.

this story first reported by LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070516/ap_on_el_pr/republicans_debate