Bachmann and Paul Go After Gingrich In Final Iowa GOP Presidential Debate

In the final GOP debate before Iowans choose their Republican nominee for president, Mitt Romney stepped aside rather than continue his attacks on Newt Gingrich, and Michele Bachmann slipped through the opening to throw her hardest punches of the campaign.

The debate in Sioux City, in many ways, was the final opportunity for the candidates to make their case to a mass audience before the January 3 Iowa caucuses.

Romney resisted every opportunity to go after Gingrich, who has risen to the top of most Iowa and national polls. Bachmann, though, an Iowa native, clearly came prepared for a fight, and she gave what is likely to be seen as her strongest debate performance of the campaign.

Gingrich Attacked for Taking Freddie Mac Money

First, she took Gingrich on for accepting some $1.6 million from Freddie Mac, the public government-sponsored enterprise that was designed to help with home purchases. It, along with Fannie Mae, was at the forefront of the home mortgage crisis, and together their bailout has been estimated to cost taxpayers up to $360 billion.

When Gingrich defended himself from Ron Paul criticizing him for taking the cash — "from taxpayers," Paul said — it was Bachmann's turn.

"We know he cashed paychecks from Freddie Mac," she said, adding that she was "shocked" that Gingrich would defend lobbying on behalf of an organization at the "epicenter of the financial meltdown." Gingrich can claim that's not lobbying, she added, but "the Speaker had his hand out collecting $1.6 million to influence senior political leaders" on behalf of Freddie Mac.

Gingrich argued that Bachmann had her facts wrong.

"I have never once changed my positions because of any kind of payment," he said, and admonished Bachmann to get her facts straight before making allegations.

Later, when she criticized him for campaigning for Republicans who did not oppose late-term abortions he again questioned her facts.

"Sometimes Congresswoman Bachmann doesn't get her facts accurate," Gingrich said.

Bachmann, though, would have none of his lecturing.

"I think it's outrageous to continue to say over and over through the debate that I don't have my facts straight, when my facts are accurate," she said. "I'm a serious candidate for the presidency of the United States."

Gingrich Has Lead Coming Into Final Iowa Debate

The candidates came into the debate with Gingrich holding a wide, but soft, lead that has been shrinking in several polls.

One poll, by Rasmussen, showed Romney, at 23 percent, moving ahead of Gingrich, with 20 percent, and Ron Paul a strong third, with 18 percent.

Scott Rasmussen, who runs the poll, told Fox News this morning that Gingrich has been hurt by attacks from Romney and Paul.

“There has been a pretty blistering campaign against him,” Rasmussen said. “It’s just caused people to pause and take another look at this.

Still, there was mostly good news for Gingrich heading into the debate, televised live by Fox News.

A Real Clear Politics “poll of polls” — which takes an average of the survey landscpe — showed Gingrich ahead of Romney by 9.2 percent, down from 12 percent earlier in the week.

That, coupled with polls that show about half of Iowa Republicans say they either have not decided who to support or that their choice could change, made Gingrich the obvious target.

Candidates Had Gingrich in Their Sites

Paul took his own aim at Gingrich, and went after Bachmann for good measure. After she accused him of holding a "dangerous" position on Iran and what she called his passivity regarding the country's nuclear program, Paul said he was tired of the United States "bombing everybody" and told the audience that, "The danger is overreacting. ... You cannot solve these problems with war."

Bachmann's strategy was clearly to attack. Her campaign sent reporters emails throughout the debate, one attacking Gingrich, the other going after him and Romney.

In Saturday’s debate in Des Moines, the ABC News moderators gave the candidates every chance to hammer Gingrich about his infidelity and three marriages, but none of them jumped on the issue with any real force.

"What I'm looking for is to see what the environment is around Newt Gingrich — how are the others going to continue their attack on him and is he going to be as confident as he was in the Saturday (Des Moines) debate," Iowa State University political science professor Steffen Schmidt told The Sioux City Journal before the debate.

"That's the key thing, because we are all asking ourselves whether Newt Gingrich will be another Herman Cain or Michele Bachmann — whether his 15 minutes of fame were up when his poll numbers were up to 37 percent and whether, like all the others, he is beginning his descent already."

Romney and Paul have been waging the most forceful media attacks against Gingrich, each of them producing commercials that question the former Speaker’s qualifications.

Romney’s campaign emailed reporters this morning with a clip of his most recent commercial, which shows Gingrich praising him for creating jobs in the private sector. This joins a gallery of commercials, including one that shows him talking — and agreeing — with former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on the need to combat climate change.

Joining Gingrich in tonight's lineup were Romney, Paul, Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, former Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.

Perry may have had the most memorable line of the debate, telling the audience he hoped to be "the Tim Tebow of the Iowa caucuses," referencing the Denver Broncos quarterback who many people said could not perform in the NFL but has led his team to a remarkable string of victories.

Huntsman, who has not campaigned in Iowa, was not included in Saturday’s debate because he did not meet the threshold of polling at least 5 percent nationally. For an invitation to tonight’s debate, candidates needed to poll at only 1 percent.

Romney, Paul and Bachmann have attacked Gingrich in the past for taking money from Freddie Mac. Gingrich first he claimed to have worked as a “historian.” More recently he has said he served as a consultant helping the firm understand how to appeal to conservatives and warning that the company’s lending practices were unsustainable.