Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts tangled over taxes and government spending yesterday as the Republican presidential candidates debated in Michigan, highlighting the way in which their increasingly fierce confrontation is starting to dominate the race for their party’s nomination.
The debate also marked the debut of Fred D. Thompson of Tennessee alongside his Republican rivals. Mr. Thompson often appeared unsmiling and less practiced than the eight others onstage with him, who had already met five times before yesterday. But he avoided any notable missteps and held his own on substantive exchanges over the economy and foreign policy.
Mr. Thompson often found himself a bystander as Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Romney attacked each another — or, just as frequently, went after Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, reflecting Republicans’ expectation of a general election contest against Mrs. Clinton, who is leading in polls of the Democratic candidates.
Mr. Giuliani, a former New York mayor, and Mr. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, employed a blizzard of often-conflicting statistics as they sought to undercut each other’s records on cutting taxes or spending. But most of all, they clashed over a line-item veto that Mr. Romney said was essential to reducing spending in Washington and that Mr. Giuliani challenged successfully in the Supreme Court. Read on @ New York Times
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