Republican presidential candidates former Massachusetts Gov, Mitt Romney, left, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry shake hands at the finish of a Republican presidential candidate debate at the Reagan Library on Wednesday.By CHARLES BABINGTON
Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. – Attacked from all sides, Texas Gov. Rick Perry softened his rhetoric if not his position on Social Security in a snarky campaign debate Monday night and fended off attacks on his record creating jobs and requiring the vaccination of schoolgirls against a cancer-causing sexually transmitted virus.
Across a crackling two-hour debate, the front-runner in opinion polls gave little ground and jabbed back, particularly at his most persistent critic, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
But the attacks were sustained – from Romney on Social Security, Texas Rep. Ron Paul saying Perry had raised taxes, Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Senate Rick Santorum assailing the governor’s executive order to require Texas schoolgirls to get a STD vaccine.