per perry. did they succeed in lessening his numbers a little bit? >> i don't think so, anderson, i will tell you this hall is crackling with excitement, these tea partiers love this debate. they like the fact that the other candidates had a chance to get in more evenly, but just as they loved it, there were many, judging from what's been on twitter tonight who were horrified, the country is divided about this, in terms of the dynamics of this race within the republicans, there's no question that romney and perry will remain the front-runners, romney has a better command of the facts. he gave one of the best answers of his entire campaign when he was asked how he would balance the budget. but perry has the command presence, and even though people took shots at him as you said, he deflected reasonably well, he came in as a better debater.

he talks a lot of texas. he's going to need to move beyond texas. he's going to have to beef himself up on the international side. i would have to tell you, rick perry walked in here as a front-runner tonight. and i imagine he walked out as the front-runner. >> it's 10:00 eastern time, we're live with this special edition of ac 360. the tea party republican debate just wrapped up in tampa, florida. a lot to talk about. all the usual suspects, but some surprising moments as well, and a very pointed and contentious moments. we have analysis of all the candidates and key issues. we'll replay some key moments from the debate in case you missed it, and the facts thrown out in the heated it debate, to see whether there was truth to them, or there was stretching going on in tampa tonight. a look at some memorable moments from tonight's debate. take a look. >> it has been called a ponzi

scheme by many people long before me. but no one's had the courage to stand up and say, here's how we're going to reform it. >> the term ponzi scheme, i think is over the top and unnecessary, and frightful to many people. the question is, do you still believe that social security should be ended as a federal program as you did six months ago when your book came out? or do you want to retreat from that. >> i think we ought to have a conversation -- >> we're having that right now. we're running for president. >> you said if people did it in the private sector it would be called criminal. that's in your book. >> yeah, what i said was -- >> i'm not particularly worried about governor perry and governor romney frightening the american people when president obama scares them every single day. >> i've been told by some people, you can't get that done. i say why? well, because you don't know how washington works. yes, i do, it doesn't. >> it's easy to turn around the

economy, just have the backbone to do it. >> does governor perry deserve any credit for all those jobs created in texas? >> oh, sure. >> go ahead, tell him how much money he deserves. >> i think governor perry would agree with me, if you dump four aces that doesn't necessarily make a great poker player. >> governor perry, you were dealt four aces. >> mitt, you were doing pretty good until you got to talking poker. >> congressman paul, you're from texas, does your governor deserve all that credit ? >> not quite. i'm a taxpayer there, my taxes have gone up, our taxes have doubled since he's been in office. i don't want to offend the governor because he may raise my taxes or something. >> the drug company gave thousands of dollars in political donations to the governor, and this is flat out wrong. the question is, is it about life or millions of dollars and potentially billions for a drug company.

>> it was a $5,000 contribution that i received from them, i raise about $30 million. and if you're saying i can be bought for $5,000 i'm offended. >> i'm offended for the little girls and parents that didn't have a choice. >> the social security is a hot button issue. they were talking about vaccinations at the end. rick perry has made waves by calling social security a ponzi scheme. wolf blitzer moderated the debate, john king, david gergern, zbloer ya borger, eric ericson, paul begala, ari fleischer and roland martin. i don't know how many folks we have, i lost count. we just talked to john king.

there was this -- there's one particular exchange on social security between rick perry and mitt romney that got a lot of people's attention. we heard a bit of it before, but i want to play an extended version now. >> do you still believe that social security should be ended as a federal program as you did six months ago when your book came out. or do you want to retreat from that. >> i think we ought to have a conversation. >> we're having that right now, governor -- >> if you'll let me finish, i'll finish. are there ways to move states into social security. for state employees or retirees. we did it in the state of texas in the 1980s, i think those types of thoughtful conversations with america, rather than trying to scare seniors like you're doing and other people, it's time to have a legitimate conversation in this country about how to fix that program or that's not bankrupt or that children actually know there's going to be a retirement program there for them.

>> the term ponzi scheme is what scared seniors, number one. and number two, suggesting that social security should no longer be a federal program and return to the states is unconstitutional is likewise frightening. there are a lot of bright people who agree with you. that's your view. i happen to have a different one. i think social security is an essential program that we should change the way we're funding it. >> you called it a criminal. you said if people did it in the private sector it would be called criminal. that's in your book. >> yeah, what i said was -- governor perry, you have to quotely correctly. you said it's criminal. i said congress taking money out of the social security trust fund is like criminal, and it is. >> do you think social security has become the key hot button issue? or something we'll see throughout the primary? >> without a doubt, here's why. if you listen to these tea party voters in this room, i was at a

luncheon with many of them today, they agree with what governor perry wrote in his book. they think social security is unconstitutional, they would prefer a transition where 20 or 30 years from now, it was all returned back to the states. governor perry did not answer yes or no when he was asked was it unconstitutional. he wrote an essay, and said he wants to reform the program, but not touch anything for anyone who's in social security now or five or ten years away from the program. governor promny believes this is a vulnerability. the challenge is sks a lot of republican primary vote hes are more with governor perry's position on this. what governor romney is trying to prove, he's trying to make the case that this would make governor perry unelectable. a state like florida, pennsylvania, even a small state, but a swing state like iowa, where you have a higher population of senior voters, governor romney is trying to

make the case be if you want the candidate with the best chance of beating barack obama, the candidate who thinks social security is unconstitutional is not your guy. governor perry standing by what he said. he says the issue now is reforming it, but look for this to continue on what he said in the book, not what he said in the essay, the fact that he thinks the founding fathers would turn in their graves, social security shouldn't be there. governor perry now wants to talk about fixing it, not whether he would support it if the the first place. this will continue. >> i want to bring in a round robin to get initial impressions of what you heard tonight from all our panelists. eric ericson, what are your head leans going to be? >> well, i think this may be the first debate where mitt romney didn't come out the clear winner, rick perry came in strong, and really i think everyone held themselves to the end, and perry needed to do well. i think he did well. i don't think the social security exchange helps mitt romney at all at a republican

primary. he's foolish to continue, and he may want to go after perry on immigration or hpv. i think the majority of republican voters agree with perry. for the life of me, i can't understand why romney would go with this. bachman was going to make this a key point and back down from this. >> if you're a latino voter, the last thing you wanted to hear was some of the stuff you heard tonight. colorado, arizona, new mexico will be critical states when it comes to november 2012. the gop did themselves no favors tonight with latino voters. education did not come up in this debate at all. so much emphasis, you talk about social security, talking about a balanced budget. those -- >> it came up abolishing the department of education. >> well, right, that's the only moment it came up, if you're a parent trying to get your kid educated, not a single candidate offered anything to speak to the crisis we have in this country when it comes to this country.

major failure in that not coming up. >> gloria borger. >> i think what we saw tonight is proof that this race is far from over. i think there's an internal fight going on in the republican party about whether or not social security is unconstitutional -- >> mixed -- >> i don't think that question got answered by governor perry tonight. it's something he and mitt romney are going to engage on in the future. and i think that mitt romney started chipping away at the economic miracle of the state of texas. and it's clear he's going to continue to go back at that. he said, you know, when you're dealt four aces, it's easy to win the hand. and i remember that from -- >> ron paul did that pretty effectively as well by saying i live in texas, my taxes have doubled. >> i remember that happening with michael dukakis, talking about the massachusetts miracle. they started chipping away at that, it was a big problem for

him. i think we saw perry on the defensive, and everybody on the attack on him. he's going to get used to it. >> paul begala? >> remarkable contrast between mitt and rick. mitt was cool, rec was hot. mitt was factual and rick was a little more emotional. it was really an interesting study in contrast. the real question is, which party? not who won, but which party? if this is still the party of investment bankers who carry a putter at the country club, then mitt romney wins. if it's people carrying a pitchfork to a tea party rally, rick perry wins. in the hall it sure sounded from the audience like -- strikingly conservative, almost radically conservative audience which helps rick perry. >> rick perry certainly seemed to have stumbled on the hpv vaccine issue, his stance was not popular at all. >> this is in fact i think long

term, strategically, the real achilles heel for governor perry, that is where michele bachmann took it, she took it to crony capitalism, she didn't just say it was about christian conservatives although it is. she suggested, she directly implied -- this was because the governor's chief of staff was the chief lobbyist nor this drug company. she's trying to suggest that rick perry will depart from conservative values if there is money to be made for lobbyists. >> epa that we don't need you monkeying around and fiddling around and getting in our business on every kind of regulation that you can dream up. you're doing nothing more than killing jobs. it is a cemetery for jobs at the epa. and mr. cain hit the spot tonight, he said you have to put somebody in there that's going to be projobs, proamerican

administrator, and tell them every day, this is going to be about creating jobs in america. and then we need to have a little conversation about taxes and how we're going to lower the tax burden on the job creators out there. both the corporate side and the personal income tax side. >> so paul, i just want to let you finish up with what you're going to say and move on. >> if this notion begins to take hold that perry might sell out those conservative principles because he's connected to a lobbyist, then mrs. bachman may get back into the race, mr. romney may start to press this. when i talk to people in texas, they think his achilles heel is cronyism and pay to play. >> ari fleischer your comments? >> well, anderson, i think that republicans have to be careful here that social security does not become the defining issue that divides them in this

primary. they have to remember these debates to bring it back to barack obama, jobs, debt and deficits. this is the core strength that have made republicans so strong in this cycle. and it will come back to the social security doe bait. the romney people love it. it's a given. the bigger perspective cannot be lost as these debates continue. let me know what you think, follow me on twitte twitter @andersoncooper. rick perry said president obama's $800 billion stimulus package created zero jobs. next, we're checking the facts on that, keeping them honest. ari was saying, the focus should have been more on obama. we're going to take a look at how the presidential hopefuls blasted the president tonight over his health care plan. debbie wasserman-schultz is in tampa tonight. we'll get her reaction.

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geic candidates for office on both sides of the political aisle, maybe it's a case of stretching the truth or they make statements that are wrong. the debate is to test the

accuracy of the issues. what have you looked at, tom? >> we looked at a lot of thensing we'll have a lot of them over the next 24 hours and on cnn.com. one big one we want to point out came fairly early on, when all the candidates were going after the president over jobs. listen to what rick perry said. >> he had $800 billion worth of stimulus in the first round of stimulus, it created zero jobs. $400 plus billion in this package, and i can do that math on that one, half of zero jobs is going to be zero jobs. >> that was the kind of red meat that got people very excited. the governor is saying the stimulus created zero jobs. the congressional budget office says that's just not the case. it's between 1.4 and 3.3 million

jobs were either created or saved by the stimulus program. i realize that sounds squishy, because it's a broad range. many independent economists also say there's no question that jobs work was created or protected by the stimulus spending. as much as the governor would like to say his statement is true, when we look at it, we have to say no, that is flat out false. the stimulus did create some jobs. maybe not as many as they wanted. but it did create jobs. also heard all of the governors out here talking about the jobs created in their state under their governorship, important fact to look at there, look at the national trends while they were governors, because in fact some of them created jobs, sometimes a whole national trend was for creating jobs. or maybe they lagged behind the federal government. it gets very squishy in those numbers, anderson? i'll continue to check in with you. we'll be doing this over the next 24 hours, checking the facts of what the candidates said.

the candidates took president obama to task tonight on everything from jobs to health care. >> i'm not worried about governor perry and governor romney frightening the american people, when president obama scares them every single day. >> it's unconstitutional. whether it's the state government or whether it's the federal government, the only way to eradicate obama care is to pull it out by the root and branch to fully repeal it. >> this president does not understand how to free up the small businessmen and women or for that matter wall street. >> what the president did was simply wrong, it is the wrong course for america. >> some people say that barack obama's economy is' disaster. my feeling is, it would have to make a dramatic improvement just to be a disaster. >> the chair of the democratic national committee, debbie wasserman-shultz joins us live from tampa. you heard the attacks on the president.

the majority of americans disapprove of how the president is handling the economy. is 2012 becoming an increasingly difficult race for democrats, do you think? >> well, anyone listening to the debate tonight watched the republican candidates as expected worship at the altar with the tea party. as a florida an, i know my constituents were looking for their candidates to talk about what they would do to create jobs, how would they help the middle class, small business owners. none of that, just more of the same doubling down on proposals like repealing wall street reform. and then for good measure saying, well, let's invest social security and privatize it, put it in the stock market, so give those same wall street folks the money that is supposed to be the safety net for retirees and let them gamble it away in the stock market. that's not acceptable when it comes to floridians. >> they say obama care would

save jobs? >> well, really? i find that interesting. what repealing health care reform would do especially to seniors in florida, it would eliminate the closure of the doughnut hole, and it would cost seniors about $3,000 in additional prescription drug costs, it would get rid of the wellness visit that is now free, it would get rid of preventative screenings that don't have co pays. the list goes on. it would leave people with pre-existing conditions like i have, twisting in the wind because insurance companies could drop us or deny us coverage again. the republicans demonstrated tonight just how out of touch they are, at the end, for more good measure, when ron paul was asked whether a 30-year-old without health care coverage should be allowed to die, tea partiers yelled out yes. that's how out of touch this crew is. >> president obama, and i quote,

stole over $500 billion out of medicare to spend on his federal health reform package. your response to that? >> health care reform added eight years of solvency to medicare, according to cbo, that's how many years were added to the involve enscy of medicare. we made sure that we cracked down on waste, fraud and abuse, and we made sure that we took the subsidies that were being given to health insurance companies that weren't giving anything in benefits back to seniors who are on medicare and made sure we put it into direct health care benefits for them. that was an important reform for them as well. >> thanks for being with us. >> thank you. we're back with wolf blitzer, gloria borger, david gergen and others. what do you think of what debbie wasserman-shultz just said?

>> i think she made a point about the 30-year-old being allowed to die with no health insurance. my sense is the exchange will get some comment out there, anderson, because what i find so interesting is that people in this hall really did groove on much of what they heard. this is what they wanted to hear from these candidates. there are a lot of people around the country just like the folks in this room. there are a huge number of people who i think were horrified by what they heard in this room. i was getting notes about, they ought to lock these people up and not let them out. don't let them do anything to the country. this race is increasingly bringing to light and once again how divided and splintered we are and how hard it's going to be for anybody to govern when this is over. >> newt gingrich is the one who got the most zingers in at the president. i want to play something else he

had to say. >> i think the time to raise the tax on working americans in the middle of the obama depression is a destructive policy. i don't want to have tax increase at any level on anyone. >> it seems he's trying to get as much attention as he can. get as much traction as he can. does really work something i mean, in terms of his overall campaign? >> he has had back-to-back-to-back strong debate performances. he draws strong contrast. i think the problem the former speaker has had, you have the republican party looking for new leadership, he's viewed as the last generation, by some republicans favorably, but others unfavorably. i think the thing that binds all republicans together, they like his ideas, they think they need a new generation of leadership. that's how i see his challenge. we're in a fascinating moment in our politics, everybody's placing a bet.

debbie wasserman-shultz was placing a bet that the american people are going to go back in 2012 somewhere near where they were in 2008. if you listen to the conversation up here tonight, rick perry's making a bet the tea party will be just as strong in 2012 as it was in 2010 and he can go right. he can say social security should be return to the states, mitt romney is making a bet that the establishment republican party, it used to be -- now we talk about the tea party. it used to be the evangelicals, then you have states like south carolina where you have establishment -- i don't mean this in a pejorative way, the establishment republican party kicks in from south carolina on south carolina usually has a huge impact on the race, nobody knows if the old rules apply, because the tea party was such an anomaly, a new force. 2008 was such a force when you

see obama beating clinton. we don't know. what will the electorate be like, for the republicans it's in a few months. for the democrats it's in november 2012, as they attack the republicans, what will the electorate look like, we don't know. >> i also think what you're seeing is this fight within the republican party, i couldn't help but watch the debate and you saw jon huntsman and mitt romney, they looked like the old time establishment republican candidates struggling to kind of say, okay, this is the way we're going to take the party, mitt romney, it's his turn to be nominated, he ran last time. and then you saw the other candidates, they're saying, wait a minute, wait a minute, we're not going to go along with you, and then you saw rick perry, essentially trying to walk both sides of that, saying, you know what, yes, we passed the dream act in my state. yes, i ordered this vaccine for young women, something that tea

party folks do not like, conservative republicans don't like. trying to walk both sides of that, and come across as somebody who can appeal to independent voters while also appealing to tea party republicans. that's very difficult, but that's what i think we saw rick perry try to do, and we're going to continue to see him try to do that as he has to look at the general election. >> erick erickson, to david gergen's earlier point to how it played to a tea party audience and how it maybe played to other republicans out there, or independents. do you think there is that split between how it played in the hall and how it may have played to others, maybe we're not so conservative? >> yeahing probably so. i don't think that ron paul answer on letting the guy die played as well in the hall as some think. i didn't hear the applause as loud as many. there's anner u that tea party

activists have to be reminded of, how the rest of the nation sees them. they have to care. i think john king is right, there's a big gamble going on, my gamble is that perry is probably right. you had the president make some sort of mocking reference to people clinging to their guns and religion. 2012 will be the year of them replacing. >> when we come back, we'll play you other key moments from the debate that just occurred on cnn. and we switched to fedex 'cause a lot of their packaging contains recycled materials. tell them what else fedex does. well we're now using more electric trucks and lower emission planes. we even offer a reusable envelope. now, can't we at least print on the back sides of used paper? what's the executive compensation list...? [ male announcer ] sustainable solutions. fedex. solutions that matter. why did you buy my husband a falcon? thanks for the falcon.

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today president obama sent his jobs package to capitol hill. we want to show you some of the gop candidates telling you why they are best suited to bring jobs back to america. >> this country needs more workers. we're not going to get more workers until we have an economic plan led by someone who has done it before. >> repeal dodd/frank, repeal

obama care. it really isn't that tough if you try. it's easy to turn around this economy, just have the backbone to do it. >> i spent my life in the private sector, i've competed with companies around the world. i've learned something about how it is economies grow. it's not just simple waive a wand and everything gets better. >> he had $800 billion worth of stimulus in the first round of stimulus. it created zero jobs. $400 plus billion in this package, and i can do the math on that one. half of zero jobs is going to be zero jobs. >> with back with us again, paul begala, ari fleischer and dana bash. who was the standout for you tonight? and on jobs, who do you believe more? >> i think the overall standout,

romney and perry really went at each other, they shot each other in each other's foot. i think bachman ultimately had some of those solid -- the most solid answers of the night, and i was really hoping she was going to come out aggressive. is she expected to stay in or be in the top tier of candidates in this primary, she needed to be aggressive, hard hitting and go after other candidates. that's what she did. overall, i would give it to bachman. gingrich always does well, but he's been doing it for an incredibly long time. whenever herman cain spoke, every single time he spoke, he backed it up with a plan that he's already published on his website. that was interesting to see too. romney, of course, i thought despite his record in massachusetts during his four years as governor, i thought he had some pretty solid answers when it came down to jobs, perry did too. most of the time they spent

going back and forth with each other, it was a distraction from what they would actually do. >> to dana's point, i want to play some of mitt romney/rick perry sparring over job creation. >> i think governor perry would agree with me, if you are dealt four aces that doesn't necessarily make you a great poker player. and four aces, and the four aces that are terrific'ses, you should learn from, were the ones i described. zero income tax, low regulation, right to work state, oil in the ground in the republican legislature. >> you were doing pretty good until you got to talking poker. but the fact is, the state of texas has led the nation, while the current resident of the white house is overseeing the loss of 2.5 million jobs. texas has, during my period as governor, created over 1 million jobs. we did that during some pretty tough economic periods. >> roland, can rick perry take

credit for job creation in texas? >> he can take credit for it, but he's going to have to deal with a lot of those jobs being government jobs. wolf blitzer asked him the question when it kales to the president's jobs bill. politifact lays it out. governor perry used the first stimulus bill in order to balance the texas budget. you can't stand on stage and condemn a bill you used money to help balance your own budget. when you talk about the question of tax cuts, you can't stand there and talk about as a republican, i love tax cuts. you can't even own up to the fact that 40% of the stimulus bill was tax cuts? a lot of the proposals, the president put forth last thursday. tax cuts, at least own up to it versus avoid the question. that was a failure to many of the candidates to own up to tax

cuts. >> is the president talking out of both sides of his mouth? >> i think when it comes to jobs, anyone in elected office -- let me get to what i think is the deeper dynamic underplay that's the fundamental split in the republican party being tested right now on this social security debate. that's where rick perry is trying to make social security a broader issue than just social security, because republicans are also asking themselves, if i vote for you, which one of you can i trust to really go to washington and make the biggest most fundamental conservative change in economics. perry's gamble is that the american people want to push for greater change in entitlement programs, that they're ready for something fundamental. mitt romney's gamble is that they don't want to do anything bigger fundamental, theyen watt an expert to go in and change things around the edges and make some smart reforms. this is the big test, and this

is when john's point was very valid. will it be the tea party movement to change washington or the more conventional traditional republican. keep what's there, make it a little better, a little more cost-efficient. this is the dynamic in play right now. >> is that what you see as the dynamic as well? >> i do. god help me for agreeing with fleischer, i must be wrong, because i agree with him. i looked up some poll numbers in the commercial break. the republican party's favorable rating was 33. now, the republican party is 157 years old, it took them that long to get down to 33. democrats 47. not great, but somewhat better. the tea party favorable is 31. and it's negative is 51. i think this is what david gergen was alluding to, when he talked about how independents and traditional republicans could be frightened by some of

thatter er that fervor. we saw nancy pelosi in ad after ad demonizing republicans for being hitchinged to nancy pelosi. the republicans want to be hitchinged to the tea party, but it's very unpopular with mainstream america. >> we have to take a break, also tonight. another look at the candidates and the facts, keeping them honest. [ groans ] you okay?

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did any of the candidates in the debate get their facts wrong? >> we're looking now at all the attacks on the health care reform act. nobody seemed to go after that harder than michele bachmann. zbh we know that president obama stole over $500 billion out of medicare to switch it over to obama care. we know that medicare hospital trust fund will be bankrupt within nine years, these are programs that need to be saved to serve people. and in their current form they can't. >> that's a hot statement when you think about it, anderson. the president stole over $500 million from medicare to pay for the obama program as they like to call it, obama care. first of all, he didn't steal it, it's legislation. when it's passed, it's passed. you may not like it, but it's not theft. this is about one quarter --

when she talks about the program going bankrupt, that's one quarter. it's not the whole thing. this program was designed to contain the growth of costs, particularly to hospitals and doctors, over the next ten years. so this was not a cut in benefits, which would be easily taken to thought if you heard all this, you may think that's what she's talking about. when you consider what the reality was of this program, and what she said, it's very easy to think she wants to be true, but it was certainly mislead iing en though there was a colonel of truth to it. back with us again, david gergen, paul begala, ari fleischer. i want to play some of rick perry's talk about the hpv vaccine. >> you signed an executive order

requiring 11-year-old girls and 12-year-old girls to get a vaccine to deal with a sexually transmitted disease that could lead to cervical cancer, was it a mistake? >> it was. i would have done it differently, gone to the legislature, worked with them. what was driving me was obviously making a difference about young people's lives. >> cervical cancer is a horrible way to die. >> i just wanted to add that we cannot forget that in the midst of this executive order there is a big drug company that made millions of dollars because of this mandate. we can't deny that. >> what are you suggesting? >> what i'm saying is that it's wrong for a drug company because the governor's former chief of staff was the chief lobbyist for this drug company. the drug company gave thousands of dollars in political donations to the governor, and this is just flat out wrong. the question is, is it about life or was it about millions of

dollars and potentially billions for a drug company. >> senator santorum, hold off for a second. you have to respond to that 37. >> the company was merck and it was a $5,000 contribution that i had received from them. i raise about $30 million, and if you're saying that i can be bought for 5,000, i'm offended. >> i'm offended for all the little girls and the parents that didn't have a choice. that's what i'm afended about. >> roland martin, obviously, that played very well to a very conservative crowd. how do you think it played to maybe independents? >> well, look, here you have a governor who is saying, first of all, he said if he had to do it again, he won the do it, he think one of the mistakes he made was trying to keep coming back and defending it. once you've made clear, look, i would not have done it, i would have gone to the legislature,

you leave it there. sometimes you have to take a hit, when you know it's there. trying to explain it is not a really good idea. but look, i still don't think -- you know, they can spend as much time as they want talking about this vaccine and this whole notion of a mandate, this election, though, when you appeal to independents will still come down to the issue of the economy. when they spend so much time on these issues, and you're not really dealing with the whole notion of what is your specific jobs plan, what is your point when it comes to education, what are you dealing with the poor, those who are impoverished, that's who's going to drive this economy, not a vaccine in texas. >> clearly michele bachmann, just from what she said to john king earlier this evening, she sees this as anner u that she can get at rick perry on? >> right, and i think it has a lot of different aspects to it, there's the question, it is an issue for christian conservatives, it's strongly supported by many public health

experts. christian conservatives don't like it because it's inoculating against a sexually transmitted disease. reformers of all stripes i think are troubled by this allegation mrs. bachman made of the close nexus between the governor and chief lobbyist at the time for merck, more and more, i think you're going to see people pulling on that string. it turns out the texas economy wasn't as great for working people in texas, but rick perry's time in public office has been awfully good to rick perry. that may become a thread that mrs. bachman or others that are trying to get back in this race may begin to adopt. >> we're going to have more from all our panelists coming up. we're also going to play the one time front-runner rick perry was booed tonight, and a look at how tonight's debate may have shuffled the playing field. who's up, who's down, and who may be dropping out next. mispers about natural gas vehicles. more of the vehicles that fuel our lives

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eight republican candidates took the stage tonight. who can take the fight all the way to the nomination, that is the bottom line question. the money was on front-runner rick perry, the texas governor took more than one hit tonight. listen to this tea party audience as perry justifies his state's dream act. >> if you've been in the state of texas for three years, if you're working toward your college degree, and if you are working and pursuing citizenship in the state of texas, you pay in-state tuition there. and the bottom line issing it doesn't make any difference what the sound of your last name is, that is is the american way, no matter how you got into that state, from the standpoint of your parents brought you there, or what have you, that's what we've done in the state of texas. i'm proud that we're having

those individuals be contributing members of our society rather than telling them, you go be on the government dough. >> want to get quick final thoughts from our panelists, we have so many it's like a brady bunch box. let's start with dana loesch, what do you think? >> rick perry, i think, needs to get better at defense, and i can't believe that he allowed mitt romney do a slick move as making perry care a bigger deal than romney care. while i didn't agree with perry care, it at least had an opt out, romney care did not. romney allowed this to turn into a pile on him. he's got to get better at being defensive and giving defensive answers. >> quickly, paul begala? >> i think tonight we saw the tea party may be a double edged six shooter, lots of energy, lots of excitement, lots of

enthusiasm, but kind of some extreme positions that could hurt them with mainstream voters. >> roland martin? >> it's amazing what you heard, governor rick perry's answer when it came to illegal immigrants. it was the right answer, it was the correct answer, and i'm is upped all those tea party people forgot that ronald reagan signed a deal allowing 3 million illegal immigrants amnesty. they tend to forget history. smart move to attract latino voters in key states in 2012. >> i was impressed that governor perry did not back away from any of those substantive issues, even some of those that were not popular with tea party supporters, like that immigration issue on in-state tuition. the vaccine. when he takes a position, he's willing to stand up for it. i thought that was fascinating he wasn't willing to back away from any of that.

>> john king, the importance of this tonight? >> this debate is going to help us understand, anderson, in a very important way, just what republican voters are working for. his position on hpv, which he says he wouldn't do geb. out of step, especially with tea party states rights voters. is that enough to chip away his lead in the polls? do they view him as the best candidate to go up against president obama, and, therefore, they're willing to forgive or forget policy differences? >> interesting stuff, ari fleischer? >> this is still an extraordinarily fluid republican primary that's built on shifting sands. at any one moment, any strong candidate can emerge on top. perry and romney both did well tonight, they're both going to have more money than their opponents. one point on jon huntsman, he has to look like he's having more fun at these debates.

he reminded me of a schoolteacher whose classes you wanted to cut. he has to have a little more fun out there. >> gloria borger. >> i want to follow up on wolf's point. rick perry wants to be the truth teller among all of these candidates, that's what he was doing tonight. not backing down off his positions. he also wants to convince republicans that he's the person to take the fight to barack obama and by not backing down on what he believes, his campaign thinks that's going to help him. >> david gergen, we have about 30 seconds. >> anderson, the big story of the republican nomination fight right now is the way rick perry has burst on to the scene like a bright star seizing the lead. i think the question becomes, does he flame out? and we don't know yet. does he say things that get him in trouble or as paul begala keeps suggesting, are there things in his background that will get him in trouble? we'll have to wait and see.

>> fascinating night. my thanks to all of us. the republican presidential debate in its entirety. you can see it from the beginning at the top of the hour. [ oswald ] there's a lot of discussion going on about the development of natural gas, whether it can be done safely and responsibly. at exxonmobil we know the answer is yes. when we design any well, the groundwater's protected by multiple layers of steel and cement. most wells are over a mile and a half deep so there's a tremendous amount of protective rock between the fracking operation and the groundwater. natural gas is critical to our future. at exxonmobil we recognize the challenges and how important it is to do this right. we're often so busy dealing with what's in front of us that we at exxonmobil we recognize the challenges and how important it is lose sight of the big picture. that's why it's good, every now and then, to pause, take a new look at your financial plan and make sure you're headed in the right direction.

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