10:43 p.m. Romney questioned on flip flopping--particularly on gay rights. It's pointed out that, in running for office in Massachusetts, Romney promised to be more pro-gay rights than Ted Kennedy. He flip flops in his answer in which he says he is completely opposed to people being discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. He's such a friend of the gays that he even had one in his cabinet! However, he's completely opposed to same-sex marriage.
10:40 p.m. Mitt Romney wants to create a card for people who come here legally which they can show when applying for a job. If employers hire people without that card, the employer gets serious sanctions. This is somehow different from a green card?
10:25 p.m. Newt confesses that he's been editing his words in an effort not to appear to be "zany." Basically he thinks Obama's resistance towards reopening the Keystone pipeline is irrational.
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Bachmann argues that Obama's decision not to reopen Keystone was pandering to environmental extremists motivated by his reelection effort.
10:13 p.m. Obama was given victory in Iraq on a silver platter, says Bachmann.
10:06 p.m. Moderators point out that Ron Paul would remove sanctions against Iran even if he had clear evidence that it had a nuclear weapon. He affirms this position and exclaims, "we don't need another war!"
9:56 p.m. Romney says the only group people that have less credibility than justices is Congress--so let's not put Congress in charge of choosing justices. The candidates are asked to quickly go down the line and name their favorite Supreme Court justice. It is very difficult for any of the candidates to follow these instructions, clearly frustrating Megyn Kelly. They all love some variation of the group Roberts, Thomas, Alito and Scalia.
9:53 p.m. Bachmann commends Iowans for getting rid of the judges that legalized gay marriage in the state.
Ron Paul thinks getting rid of courts just because they issue unpopular rulings is "opening up a can of worms."
9:48 p.m. Manufacturing is coming back--you heard it from Mitt Romney first. Also Obama apparently thinks America is in decline. Romney does not.
9:47 p.m. President Rick Perry would seek to make Congress part-time. "I would suggest you do 140 days every other year, like we do in Texas."
9:36 p.m. Michele Bachmann refuses to stand for Newt Gingrich's dismissal of his work with Freddie Mac. "We can't have a czar nominee for the republican party," she says, insisting that she wanted to get rid of the government-run business when it was paying Gingrich. He tries to appeal to the audience by saying he's a supporter of any business that helps Americans buy homes.
Bachmann defends her argument by claiming Politifact verified that everything she had said in the last debate was correct. Politifact promptly tweeted that this is not true.
9:32 p.m. Newt: I never lobbied. Give it up.
9:30 p.m. Newt gets called out for being on the Freddie Mac payroll--finds away to compare his work there with Habitat for Humanity.
9:28 p.m. Romney, again, insists his business experience makes him qualified for the presidency saying, "to create jobs it helps to have created jobs." Obama, on the other hand, doesn't understand how the economy works.
9:16 p.m. Rick Perry attempts to make himself relevant by saying he's like Tim Tebow. How's that? He's got "a good throwing arm for job creation." Clever.
9:14 p.m. If elected president, Michele Bachmann would see to it that her time in office would be spent attacking Obama. Also, once upon a time she was a "normal person." What happened?
9:08 p.m. Ron Paul gets big applause from the audience by saying, with a laugh, "anyone on this stage could beat Obama."
9: 05 p.m. Newt Gingrich is in the spotlight tonight as the current frontrunner and as such is given the first chance to defend his own conservativism and explain how he can beat Barack Obama. The former speaker starts out by wishing everyone in the audience a merry Christmas--explicitly--and reminding viewers that Reagan, too, was slated to lose in a debate against Carter. He says he can bring a very large change to the republican party and can beat Obama in a debate.
