Republican Debate Highlights The Aggression In Candidates

The race for the Republican presidential nomination took a turn toward the surreal South Carolina Thursday, Rick Perry, retired, Newt Gingrich to allegations of an imposing ex-wife and Mitt Romney struggled to prop up a fragile front-runner.

Aggressive debate capped the night of puzzling.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum played aggressor by night, trying to inject in what looked increasingly like a two-way race with little more than a day remaining until the elections in South Carolina open on Saturdays. Romney and Gingrich accused of "playing footsies with the left" when it comes to health services. Both men deny the charges.

The debate began just hours after the first word that Romney had been stripped of his win in Iowa caucuses, only to be stung a few hours after the withdrawal of Perry and the support of Gingrich.

Gingrich, in turn, was accused by an ex-wife to seek an open marriage, to keep your lover.

Watch this video monitor on key issues in the minds of social conservative voters in South Carolina values.

"Newt is not perfect, but that is between us," said Perry, suddenly quit the race just before the first primary in the South.

His decision to end a once-promising candidate left Romney, Gingrich, Santorum and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas rest of the contenders in the race to elect a Republican to challenge Democratic President Barack Obama this fall.

Nine hours after Perry left the stage, the four remaining candidates walked to another for a final pre-primary debate.

Gingrich angrily denounced the media for his ex-wife put front and center in the last days of the race. "Let me be clear, the story is false," he said. Santorum, Romney and Paul directed well away from the controversy. "We're real problems, that's all I have to say," Romney said, but noted that he and his wife, Ann, have been married for 42 years.

The audience gave a standing ovation, Gingrich, when he attacked the media, a reaction can only hope that is reflected in the opinion of voters on Saturday.

The four remaining Republican candidates vigorously attacked Obama, while Santorum, in particular, tried to raise his own profile.

Presented to the audience from the beginning, he referred to his change of fortune in Iowa, where a manifesto of eight votes in the assemblies of the defeat on January 3 was transformed into an advantage late 34 votes - but the Republican Party of Iowa not declare a winner.

Santorum played at both Gingrich and Romney, but seemed to pay more attention to the first. If Gingrich is the candidate of the party, said, "you kind of have the time worrying that something will explode. And we can not allow a candidate."

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