GOP candidates hold their fire in debate’s opening round

The latest GOP debate is off to a surprisingly mellow start. The questions have been softballs so far, and no one’s fighting yet. Candidates aren’t even jumping in.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum said he thought public employee unions should be outlawed. “I do not believe that state, federal or local workers ... should be involved in unions, and I would support a bill saying we should not have public employee unions,” he said.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he was opposed to unemployment insurance payments if they were not linked to job training programs.

“It’s fundamentally wrong to give people money for 99 weeks for doing nothing,” he said.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, in response to a question from a small-business owner who wondered how to “incent” the hiring of new workers, claimed Texas had been successful on that front. In the last decade, Perry said, Texas has lowered the tax burden on small business, gotten rid of regulations, and enacted “sweeping tort reform that told personal injury laywers, ‘Don’t come to Texas, cause you’re not gonna be suing our doctors frivolously.’ ”

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, in response to a question about how he defined “rich,” refused to answer. “I don’t try to define who is rich,” said Romney, a wealthy former businessman who has drawn ridicule this week for claiming he is part of the middle class. “I want everybody in this country to be rich.”

Hard to disagree with that point of view.

Maybe the debate will heat up. Initially, it seemed that getting a word in edgewise might prove difficult. After all, nine candidates are sharing the stage in Orlando, Fla., in the sixth GOP presidential debate since May, their third in September alone. The eight now-usual suspects -- Romney, Perry, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, Gingrich, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, former pizza chain CEO Herman Cain, former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Santorum—have been joined by former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, who has not been onstage since the first debate May 5.

Tonight’s debate is co-sponsored by Fox News Network, Google and YouTube.