And the Presidential race begins

With just over 16 months until the 2012 Presidential election, the GOP officially kicked off the season with a debate in New Hampshire last night.

Broadcast over CNN, the bill included former Massachusetts Gov.  Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Sen. Rick Santorum (PA), Sen. Ron Paul (TX), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Michele Bachman (MN).  Bachman took the opportunity to formally announce her candidacy during the first round of questions, instead of addressing the top issue of growing more jobs.

After the Bachmann followers settled down, CNN’s John King and reporters from WNUR and the New Hampshire Global Union offered questions to the  broad panel.

Cain, the only candidate without political experience, summed up his reason for running in nine words.

“It’s not about us; it’s about the grandkids.”

Private sector job creation

All seven candidates said private sector jobs will only come back when the government gets out of the way. Lower taxes, reducing the capital gains tax to zero, and a lower tax rate for corporations that repatriate their profits from foreign headquarters were mentioned as methods to stimulate job growth. All blamed Pres. Barack Obama for stalling the economy and making it worse.

“Unemployment has increased; there is a decline in housing. He has failed when people counted on him to get the economy going,” Romney said. “He delegated the economy to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and then did what he wanted to – Obamacare.”

Gingrich was more blunt in his assessment.  “Obama is anti-jobs, anti-business and anti-American.”

Paul added that private sector jobs and manufacturing would only come back when America has a strong monetary policy. He repeatedly cited eliminating the tax on capital that comes back to the nation and also called for the treasury to stop printing money.

“As long as we are deliberately weakening our currency, the jobs will stay oversees,” Paul said.

Pawlenty hearkened back to his family’s years as union members, saying he understood the pain felt by blue collar workers. His solution to bring back good-paying, middle-class jobs would be to remove the regulations placed on businesses by the federal government. Bachmann echoed that, saying the number one way to bring back jobs would be to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency, which she called the “number one killer of jobs.”

Right to Work Laws

Legislation to lift mandatory union membership within public or private workplaces is spreading across the nation. In Wisconsin, public employee unions see Gov. Scott Walker’s proposals to limit collective bargaining and end mandatory collection of union dues as the first steps toward a right to work bill. New Hampshire is currently debating the passage of its own right to work law.

Pawlenty described the unions positions as forcing people to be a member of a group, something the government should not be condoning. He pledged his support for national right to work legislation, adding that “government shouldn’t tell us what we should do; we should tell the government what to do.”

Gingrich wanted the National Labor Relations Board to stop doing the work for unions, which he said is currently trying to end the right to work movement in North Carolina. “I hope each state passes right to work.”

Federal subsidies for businesses and Troubled Asset Relief Program

Paul is completely against providing any kind of public assistance to private industries.

“It is their decision to determine how they will thrive,” Paul said. “It is bad economics and not part of the constitution. It is a fallacy that the government knows how to manage the economy.”

But the other candidates quickly veered away from that topic and took swipes at TARP and the auto industry bailout. Cain initially supported TARP, saying that when the financial meltdown first started we needed to have a drastic government program to step in and save the finance industry.

“But when they started to pick and choose winners and losers and give money to things that had nothing to do with finance, I was out. I believe there are no businesses that are too big to fail,” Cain said.

Romney said the auto industry bailout was unsuccessful, even though General Motors and Chrysler have come through the recession. He said the nation should have let the companies declare bankrupcy and re-emerge. Instead,$17 billion was wasted and Obama handed the companies over to the United Auto Workers union.

Bachmann said she was with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulsen when he made the $700 million TARP request. She didn’t vote for the measure, even though many of her GOP colleagues did.

“Sometimes you have to stick to your principles over your party,” she said.

“Obamacare”

It was not surprise that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act received no love from the seven Republican candidates, but most of the time spent on the subject was given to Romney. He has taken lumps from the other candidates, legislators and conservative commentators about universal health care plan put in place while he was governor of Massachusetts. Even Obama has stated he used that plan as a basis for his own medical care act.

“I will repeal Obamacare,” Romney said. “There are similarities and differences. Obamacare raises $500 million in taxes, takes $500 billion out of Medicare,” and federalizes health care.

“Ours was a state plan, not a national plan,” he added. “If the people don’t like it, the state can change it.”

As recently as Sunday, Pawlenty referred to the health care plan as “Obamaneycare.” He backed off the word during the debate, saying he was only quoting Obama when he described how he developed Obamacare.

Bachmann reminded the audience that she was the first legislator to introduce a bill to repeal Obamacare and said that as president, she will not rest until it is gone.

“The Congressional Budget Office said this will kill 800,000 jobs,” she said. “This is the symbol of Obama. It is a job killer.”

Paul Ryan’s Roadmap for America’s Future

Again, most of the candidates agreed with Ryan’s general plan, that promises need to be kept to the millions of people already receiving Medicare and Social Security, but options need to be offered to those less than a certain age for these same entitlements. It was the details that bedeviled the candidates, who offered different age requirements, income limits and voucher systems for care.

But the focus for this topic landed at Gingrich’s feet, who referred to Ryan’s plan as “right-wing social engineering” on a Sunday morning news show last month. That repudiation of the Roadmap set back Gingrich’s standing within the GOP.

“First, I support Chairman Ryan’s budget and my words were taken out of context,” Gingrich said about the dust up. He added that the conversation with the American people about the plan hasn’t been convincing and “if you can’t convince them it is a good idea, it may not be a good idea. There are things I would do differently with Medicare.”

Unfortunately, King did not follow-up with the candidate on what those different things would be.

Santorum said seniors need to become partners in the effort to control costs in Medicare before it is “decimated by Obamacare.”

Cain would restructure Social Security by providing for a personal retirement account option. He said the city of Galveston opted out of Social Security for its employees in the 1970’s and now their retirees have more money than they would have in retirement than with the federal entitlement.

God, Gay Marriage and the Loyalty Test

Asked for their views on the separation of church and state, Pawlenty said the Constitution was written to protect people of faith from the government – not to protect the government from people of faith.

“49 of the 50 states have God in their constitutions,” he said. “The founding fathers understood the blessings of our nation come from God.”

Santorum said his faith plays a role in his political life, approaching issues using faith and reason. “If faith is pure and reason is right, you’ll end up with the right decision.”

In the U.S., five states currently allow gay marriage. Bachmann was asked directly if she would seek to overturn that law, since she has been very vocal in her opposition to gay marriage.

She said she believes in the 10th Amendment which leaves to the states those items not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution but she also believes that marriage is only between a man and a woman. But when pressed, Bachmann said she is running for president and would not seek a role to interfere with state laws.

The other candidates were asked whether they support a federal constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage or if they would allow states to determine the issue on their own. Cain said he would leave it to the states; Pawlenty, Romney, Gingrich and Santorum supported the constitutional amendment movement and Paul said the government should get out of the licensing of marriage and return it to strictly a religious ceremony.

And then to the loyalty test. A few months ago, Cain told Glenn Beck that he would require a Muslim to prove they are loyal to the Constitution before he would consider them for a post in his administration. When Beck asked whether Cain would require the same of a Catholic or Mormon, to which Cain said no.

During Monday’s debate, Cain said he would not feel comfortable with a Muslim in his cabinet, since there are peaceful and militant Muslims among us. He said he would have to look at a person’s work record and personal interview to determine if they are committed to the Constitution.

Romney and Gingrich both denounced the idea of incorporating Sharia law into our system of justice, but both also noted that any member of their administration would have to take the highest oath to the Constitution and the nation.

The lighter side

As the debate went into and out of television breaks, King played a game he called “This or That” with the candidates. He said it was to let the audience learn more by exposing the candidates’ personalities.

We now know that Gingrich enjoys American Idol; Romney likes spicy salsa and is cheering for the Bruins in the NHL Championship, and Bachmann has Elvis’s Christmas album on her iPod.

Santorum typically doesnt’ watch late-night comedians but he would choose Jay Leno if pressed. Cain, the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, said deep dish is his favorite; Paul carries a BlackBerry while Pawlenty enjoys an ice-cold Coke.

This will not be the last of the debates and over time others are sure to join. So get comfortable and keep a scorecard to track the comments, positions and policies of this ever-growing field.