In a sign of his new status as the ordained Democratic frontrunner, Sen. Barack Obama became a key topic of discussion in the Republican presidential debate on Saturday evening. Towards the end of the 90-minute forum, host Charlie Gibson pressed the GOP candidates to discuss how their agendas differ from Obama's.
The question presented a somewhat difficult quandary for the Republicans, in part because Obama has based his candidacy on his ability to draw bipartisan appeal, but mainly because Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, has long served as the GOP boogeyman.
Nevertheless, they took their whacks -- but with several, sometimes subtle, compliments intertwined.
Mitt Romney quickly drew policy distinctions between himself and the Illinois Democrat. "Obama wants to let government to take over health care," the former Massachusetts Governor declared, "that will break the bank."
But Romney, who like Obama has turned his campaign into a referendum on Washington insiders, pivoted from there into a general commentary on Obama's appeal. "It's a message of change," the former Governor said. "I've lived it in the private sector. I've brought [change] to company after company."
Sen. John McCain quickly interjected, taking a swipe at his chief opponent in the New Hampshire primary. "Governor Romney, we disagree on a lot of issues," the Arizona Republican said. "But we agree on one issue. You are the candidate of change."
Romney responded by listing all the experienced Democrats in the presidential race who Obama "blew away in Iowa" and cautioned McCain that experience was not the end-all and be-all of the presidential election. "You are going to have to have a person..." Romney started to say, before McCain cut him off. "This isn't an Iowa Democratic Party we are talking about," said the Arizona Republican, a Cheshire cat-like grin on his face.
Rudy Giuliani then weighed in, offering his tested line: unlike him, Obama had no experience running a city, a government or even a business.
Finally Mike Huckabee, who has been framed as the Republican parallel to Obama's candidacy of change, weighed in. "I think there were would be significant differences [between us] on the second amendment, the sanctity of life," the Arkansas Republican declared. "I also think there would be fundamental difference on taxes, fundamental differences on national defense.... I can go through a whole litany of things."
But Huckabee then turned around and offered a bit of praise.
"We have to recognize that what Senator Obama has done is touch on a core of what America has done," he said. "America is looking for vertical leadership that looks up not down.... He has excited a lot of voters in this country and lets pay respect for that.
"We better be careful as a party if we don't give people something to be for, and not just things to be against, we are going lose the next election," Huckabee said.