Republicans debate God and guns
Rudy Giuliani accused Mitt Romney of living in a "sanctuary mansion".
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Thursday, 29, Nov 2007 10:36
The frontrunners for the Republican party nomination for the 2008 US presidential election have sparred in an unorthodox debate.
In the second debate of the nomination campaign sponsored by YouTube, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney tackled immigration, gun control, religion and gay men in the military in an increasingly ill-tempered discussion.
Though the debates began in unique fashion - with a sung analysis of the Republican race, portraying the candidates through country music - the hopefuls soon exchanged blows over some contentious issues.
After Mr Romney attacked former New York mayor Mr Giuliani for turning the Big Apple into a "sanctuary city" following a question on immigration, Mr Giuliani responded by criticising the former governor of Massachussetts for having a "sanctuary mansion".
Though the majority of the debate topics concerned Republican watchwords, some had been selected by the CNN moderators, including the question as to whether any of the candidates would allow members of the military to be openly gay.
The current "don't ask, don't tell" policy was favoured by all of the Republican hopefuls.
Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton was a popular target for the candidates, with former Arkansas governor Mike Huckerbee joking that she could be a passenger on the first manned mission to Mars.
And the left-field tone of the debate was exemplified by one gun control enthusiast who stood up brandishing two weapons and clad in ammunition belts.
"What's your opinion about gun control?," he asked. "Don't worry," he added, cocking one of the guns, "you can answer how you want."
The Iowa caucus, the first of the state-wide votes to select party nominees, is held on January 3rd.