Republicans Pan Obama on Economy, Jostle for Edge in Debate

Seven Republican presidential candidates bashed President Barack Obama’s economic record at the campaign season’s first major debate yesterday, spotlighting the issue likely to define the 2012 race while dueling to distinguish themselves in the party’s crowded field.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney stressed his opposition to the federal health-care law even as he defended a similar state measure he helped to enact. Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty defended his economic plan, which presumes a high U.S. economic growth rate. U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who at the debate’s start was the only participant yet to announce a presidential bid, used the occasion to say that she would run.