Republican hopefuls hit Democrats on security, taxes

DES MOINES, Iowa, Aug 5 (Reuters) Republican presidential contenders played down their differences today and hammered Democrats over national security, taxes and health care, wading into a Democratic row over military strikes on terrorists.

The debate hosted by ABC News in Iowa, a key state that hosts the first caucuses in the party nominating process in January, saw minor squabbles but no clear victories for any of the nine candidates ahead of a closely watched party straw poll here next weekend.

Mitt Romney, who leads many Iowa polls but trails Rudy Giuliani and Sen John McCain nationally, mocked Democratic candidate Barack Obama's recent foreign policy statements, which sparked a sharp dispute with Democrat front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Obama, an Illinois senator, has said he would be willing to meet without preconditions leaders of nations such as Iran and Syria and that he would be willing to launch strikes against al Qaeda targets in Pakistan if Islamabad took no action.

''In one week, he went from saying he's going to sit down, you know, for tea, with our enemies, but then he's going to bomb our allies,'' said Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts. ''I mean, he's gone from Jane Fonda to Dr Strangelove in one week.'' Obama found some support from Giuliani, the former New York mayor who dealt with the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

Giuliani said such a strike without Pakistan permission was an option if there was no other way to ''crush'' al Qaeda.

But Giuliani, pushing himself as the candidate who can best protect the United States, also hit Democratic candidates for ''taking political correctness to extremes'' by not mentioning the words ''Islamic terrorism'' in their four debates.

Giuliani and McCain, a senator from Arizona, are not actively taking part in next Saturday's Iowa poll, raising the pressure on Romney to post a convincing victory in the contest that George W Bush won in 1999 on his way to the presidency.

Unexpectedly poor showings by outside Republican presidential bets such as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Wisconsin Gov Tommy Thompson could hasten their exit from the race for the party's nomination in the November 2008 election.

On the Iraq war, several candidates voiced frustration with the Iraqi government's inability to pass crucial laws but all except long-shot candidate Rep. Ron Paul of Texas stopped short of joining calls for US troops to pull out.

McCain, whose campaign race has stumbled partly due to his support for the war, showed no sign of backing down, saying Washington would not set a date for ''surrender, as the Democrats want us to do.'' Rep Tom Tancredo of Colorado said Congress and Bush were failing by not doing enough to get the Iraqi government to ''stand up'' and pay for the war.

''It is not fair to America and to Americans to shoulder all of the burden,'' he said.

Turning to domestic issue, the Republicans said the health and tax systems needed reform but steered clear of anything involving raising taxes -- anathema to many party supporters -- and accused Democrats of wanting to ''socialize'' health care.

But Huckabee said more resources needed to be pumped into the country's transport infrastructure, whose poor condition many saw highlighted by last week's fatal collapse of a bridge in Minnesota.

''We have to start addressing building this country and not everybody else's,'' he said.

Absent from the debate was actor and former Tennessee Sen.

Fred Thompson, who has yet to declare his widely expected candidacy.

An average of recent polls by realclearpolitics.com shows Thompson running in second place with 19.8 per cent support behind Giuliani at 25.5 per cent and ahead of McCain at 13.5 per cent and Romney at 10 per cent.

But Romney was leading the same Website's average of polls for the Iowa caucus with 23.5 per cent, followed by Giuliani on 16 per cent, Thompson on 15.3 and McCain on 10.8.

In a light-hearted moment, Giuliani drew laughter from the audience with his answer to a question about what mistakes the candidates most regretted. While most of the men mentioned somber religious or personal revelations, the twice-divorced Giuliani poked fun at his colorful personal history.

''To have a description of my mistakes in 30 seconds?'' he said to moderator George Stephanopoulos. ''Your father is a priest. I'm going to explain it to your father, not to you.'' REUTERS RS RAI2331