Trailing Republicans make their case in Iowa

The GOP candidates who are struggling to make a mark in the presidential race gathered in Des Moines on Friday night to press their case before committed Republican activists who will decide their fate in 60 days, when Iowans hold their first-in-the-nation caucuses.

But unlike most times the candidates appear together, there was little bickering. While a few made veiled swipes at their rivals, they reserved their harshest words for President Obama, saying he has made the recession worse, has a dangerous foreign policy and that he is, essentially, in over his head.

“What we are faced with is the results of a radical ideology and an inexperienced and incompetent president,” said Newt Gingrich, who received the warmest reception of the evening from the nearly 1,000 people who attended a state Republican fundraising dinner when he said that if he were the nominee, he would challenge Obama to seven three-hour debates, and if the president refused, he would follow him from town to town every day of the campaign.

The former House speaker, who has seen a slight increase in the polls as some of the other candidates have floundered but has a poorly financed campaign, individually mentioned each of his rivals who was present and individually praised them.

“I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am,” he said. “This is a great group and a couple I wish were here tonight and I would have said nice things about them too. But we’ll skip over them.”

That was a reference to frontrunners Mitt Romney and Herman Cain, who did not attend the gathering. Romney has been visiting the state infrequently, tamping down expectations from rising too high as they did when he barnstormed the state in his unsuccessful run four years ago. And Cain has run a quixotic campaign.

The five candidates who spoke Friday are trying to use a strong finish in Iowa to restart their sputtering campaigns, most of which are in the single digits in the polls.

Rick Santorum this week finished his tour of all 99 counties in Iowa.

“It is great, I would say, to be back in Iowa, but I’ve been here a little while,” said the former senator from Pennsylvania.

Santorum said his visits to the Pizza Ranch restaurants, diners and town squares that dot the state reaffirmed to him that while this election is about the economy, it must also be about values and faith. Earlier in the day, he put out a 20-point plan to strengthen families, protect traditional marriage and fight against abortion – important issues to the evangelical voters who dominate the Iowa caucuses.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry tried to define himself as an outsider who would shake up Washington, and he took the most obvious swipe at Romney.

“I happen to believe your choice in this race is between status quo tinkerers who represent the establishment, those who support bail outs and oppose major tax reform such as the flat tax,” and himself, who would bring a “wrecking ball” the nation’s capitol, Perry said.

Michele Bachmann, known for unwillingness to compromise as a Minnesota congresswoman, said the nominee must not be willing to concede.

“We have to have a commitment that is absolutely grounded in cement that our nominee will be an individual who will stand strong and make sure there is no compromise” on repealing Obama’s healthcare law and banking regulations and abolishing the tax code, she said. “No compromise for liberty.”

And Rep. Ron Paul of Texas turned to his favorite subjects, the importance of the gold standard and his proposed audit of the federal reserve, and his call to to downsize America’s foreign policy.

“If we sent people to Washington who live within the confines of the Constitution, we can solve our problems quickly,” he said.