ORLANDO — The Republican presidential field strayed away from the central 2012 topic of jobs Thursday night to wage a pitched debate over a pair of far more explosive issues: immigration and Social Security. 
 
 In the Orlando debate’s most dramatic clash, Rick Perry defended himself from a multi-front attack on his immigration record, struggling to fend off rivals he called heartless for their attitude towards the children of undocumented immigrants. 
 
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 reset Perry defends immigration policy POLITICO 44 
 
 Three of Perry’s opponents – including his nearest competitor, Mitt Romney – accused the Texas governor of coddling illegal immigrants with a law allowing young people who broke the law by entering the United States to claim in-state tuition benefits in Texas. 
 
 “That kind of magnet draws people into this country to get that education,” Romney charged. “We have to turn off the magnet of extraordinary government benefits.” 
 
 Under fire from Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann on the same issue, Perry said he didn’t believe in punishing children who entered the country illegally through no fault of their own. 
 
 To candidates who disagree, Perry said: “I don’t think they have a heart.” 
 
 “We need to be educating these children because they will become a drag on our society,” Perry said, drawing boos from the audience. 
 
 The immigration exchange was a rare debate moment that put the staunchly conservative Perry on the defensive by attacks from the right. 
 
 But it was not the only moment in the evening where Perry appeared unsteady or unfocused in his performance. 
 
 Though the Texan has rocketed to a high single-digit lead in most 2012 primary polling, Perry has yet to hand in a commanding debate appearance, and on Thursday gave a conspicuously meandering answer on foreign policy that will reinforce questions about his preparedness as a candidate. 
 
 In general, the debate hosted by Fox News, Google and the Republican Party of Florida followed a familiar script: Perry and Romney attacked each others’ views on Social Security, everybody beat up on the Obama administration and most of the candidates faded into the background. 
 
 In addition to Perry, Romney, Bachmann and Santorum, there were five other candidates on stage: Herman Cain, Ron Paul, Jon Huntsman, Newt Gingrich and Gary Johnson, the former New Mexico governor making his first debate appearance in months. 
 
 For much of the first hour, the debate was a fairly humdrum affair, showcasing an array of high-tech bells and whistles offered by Google, which co-sponsored the debate. 
 
 The first set of questions came from viewers who submitted their questions on YouTube, and largely allowed the candidates to recite talking points without being challenged by moderators. 
 
 And Fox took time away from the candidate forum to share results from instant polls of the debate viewers, who answered questions such as: How much does someone need to make before they are considered rich? ||||| Fireworks in Tea Party debate 
 
 The issue in tonight’s Tea Party debate was supposed to be Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s controversial statements on Social Security. It did come up, but the fireworks turned out to be on immigration and on his mandatory HPV vaccination, when Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) finally awoke from her slumber and, along with a very effective Rick Santorum, pummeled Perry on the topic. As in the first debate, Perry started strong and lost steam and ground later in the debate. It was the second uneven but not disastrous performance for him, topped off by an atrocious answer on Afghanistan. 
 
 All afternoon, the political chatter was about Social Security. Perry tried to tone down his rhetoric in a USA Today op-ed. Mitt Romney released a clip of Perry saying it shouldn’t be a federal program. Jon Huntsman criticized them both. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal endorsed Perry and neatly sidestepped a question in a pre-debate interview about whether it’s true that “Perry [is] vulnerable, especially to a general election audience for having the view that... Social Security is essentially unconstitutional. It shouldn’t be there.” Jindal stressed that Perry was being bold in raising Social Security’s viability. 
 
 Sure enough, Social Security was the first topic in the debate and generated some heat. Perry did not put the issue behind him. He promised Social Security would be there for seniors, but wasn’t pressed by moderator Wolf Blitzer on his incendiary language. However, Mitt Romney did that, reciting chapter and verse of Perry’s book in which Perry argued that Social Security should go back to the states and suggesting that it is unconstitutional. Perry seemed hesitating, speaking slowly, and surprisingly doubled down on the suggestion that states could be allowed to opt out. If conservatives were looking for evidence that Romney was exaggerating Perry’s disdain for the federal program, they didn’t find it. The issue remains. And with each outing, Perry’s negative stance toward the federal program becomes harder to explain to independents and moderate Republicans. 
 
 Throughout the evening, Romney proved the better debater (projecting command of his facts and a forceful tone) and the better prepared of the two front runners. He gave solid answers on jobs and on his desire to reform entitlements. He rattled off a series of steps (albeit generic ones) for balancing the buget. On RomneyCare, he’s perfected the delivery of his defense (e.g. he didn’t raise taxes, he’ll repeal ObamaCare), but he likely isn’t convincing anyone in the GOP base. He scored a foreign policy point by promising to return the Winston Churchill bust that President Obama removed. 
 
 Perry was at his best reciting his states’ jobs record, although Newt Gingrich deflated his bubble a bit by pointing out that government doesn’t create jobs. Perry simultaneously tried to change his views (in his book, he was against Medicare Part D, now he is for it; in the past he opposed national tort reform, in the debate he supported it) while refusing to give ground rhetorically. He staunchly defended giving in-state tuition to illegal immigrants — prompting a chorus of boos. He stood firm on HPV mandatory vaccination, saying only he shouldn’t have resorted to an executive order. One of his worst moments came late in the debate, when he agreed with Jon Huntsman about the urgency of returning troops from Afghanistan. Did he forget his talking point? He’s supposed to be against timetables and premature withrawals. 
 
 His defining characteristic seems to be a refusal to admit error when challenged. That may appeal to hard liners, but it will continue to provide fodder for his opponents. Moreover, he flagged as the debate wore on, much the way he did last time. Soon he will be required to put more meat on the bones of his policy positions. 
 
 Rick Santorum was the unexpected surprise, reciting his own record on Social Security reform and defending the market-based Medicare Part D. (Perry, to the surprise of many Tea Partyers, also said he’d keep Medicare Part D.) Santorum sounded level-headed on the Federal Reserve, urging that it focus solely on sound money. He was impassioned on spurring manufacturing job growth. He lit on fire when he condemned Perry for “big government run amok.”And he socked it to for Ron Paul for seeming to blame the U.S. for Sept. 11. He was forceful and, indeed, eloquent on American exceptionalism. 
 
 Meanwhile, Bachmann shied from taking on the front-runners for much of the debate. She declined to take the bait on criticizing Perry for saying Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s conduct was “treasonous.” However, she finally rose to the occasion in criticizing Perry on HPV mandatory vaccinations, calling it “plain wrong." She also accused Perry flat-out of being influenced by a contribution from the drug manufacturer. In a bizarre exchange, Perry said he was offended if she was accusing him of being bought for only $5,000. (But bigger donors could have tempted him?) She shot back, “I’m offended for the 12-year-old girls.” That round went to Bachmann, but whether it is important enough to trip up Perry is very questionable. She made a bigger impression later in the debate castigating Perry for his in-state tuition break for illegal aliens. 
 
 The winners: Santorum — not a bad answer all night, and sounded better than most of the others; Perry on jobs; and Romney for overall strong answers and precision in his arguments. 
 
 The losers: Perry on everything else, Bachmann (who still isn’t on a par with Romney and Perry); national security (almost entirely ignored); Perry spinners who insist Social Security isn’t an issue for the Texas governor; and Paul, who was finally unmasked as a crackpot and apologist for our enemies (reciting Osama bin Laden propaganda). 
 
 More on the GOP debate from PostOpinions 
 
 Milbank: Under attack, Perry stumbles 
 
 Dionne: GOP’s Social Security hypocrisy 
 
 Stromberg: Perry’s substance vs. Romney’s substance 
 
 Bernstein: GOP spins further from reality 
 
 Thiessen: A pathetic national security debate 
 
 Petri: Rick Perry’s sinister vaccines ||||| It’s official — the frontrunners aren’t a mutual fan club. 
 
 With three debates in the books featuring Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, the animosity between the Texas governor and the former Massachusetts governor is palpable. 
 
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 reset Perry hits Romney on flip-flops Perry defends immigration policy Johnson gets biggest laugh POLITICO 44 
 
 Here are POLITICO’s six takeaways from Thursday’s slugfest in Orlando: 
 
 Rick Perry is not ready 
 
 For debating, anyway. Fortunately for him, there’s a brief lull where he can improve his game in time for the mid-October New Hampshire and Las Vegas face-offs. 
 
 But the concern for Perry after three weak debate performances - each one messier than the last - is that primary voters may soon start deciding he’s not ready for Barack Obama either. 
 
 Perry simply couldn’t get it done in his third outing on stage with the same rivals he’s faced before (and, for the first time, a giggly Gary Johnson). 
 
 Just like at the CNN/Tea Party Express debate - and before another Florida crowd that was prepared to welcome him - the Texas governor seemed ill-prepared, couldn’t land his punches, and he again sagged visibly toward the end, struggling even through a canned slap at Mitt Romney’s flip-flops. 
 
 His vague, tripping-across-Asia answer on a hypothetical question about getting the proverbial 3 A.M. call warning of a nuclear-armed Pakistani Taliban regime, won’t make anyone feel safer with him at the helm. 
 
 But his comments on immigration will be the ones that are most remembered. During a multi-candidate pile-on, Perry sounded a leftward tone when he suggested people who disagree with him on a particular pro-immigrant policy are lacking a “heart.” 
 
 He also stuck by his stand against a border fence, in an exchange in which former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum got the better of him. And his one moment that came close to standing out in a good way - being “lobbied” on the HPV vaccine by a dying 31-year-old - turns out to have been inaccurate. 
 
 All of it will serve to harden questions about Perry’s durability. And it raises the stakes for how he performs at the Presidency Five straw poll in Florida on Saturday. 
 
 Mitt Romney found an answer to the flip-flopper questions 
 
 It’s called Rick Perry. 
 
 Romney sought to turn his opponent’s straight-talking strength into a weakness by questioning whether Perry himself was the true flip-flopper. 
 
 Romney’s simply better at the debate game and it showed in various exchanges with Perry. 
 
 “Nice try,” was Romney’s rebuttal to Perry at two different points, before he turned the question to his advantage. 
 
 He didn’t take the chunk he wanted out of Perry on the issue of Social Security—and he got a bit mealy-mouthed during an answer about whether he supports President Obama’s “Race to the Top” education initiative. (Suggesting Gary Johnson’s dogs as his running mate wasn’t exactly a home run either). 
 
 And there is some level of risk for Romney, who sometimes offers answers that are reminiscent of John Kerry’s “smart-kid-in-the-class” performances from the 2004 cycle. While his aggressiveness with Perry has generally served him well, when delivered with too much eagerness it can be grating. 
 
 Nonetheless, what Romney needs is to steadily advance and hope that Perry sinks, and each debate has been a step toward that goal. 
 
 Rick Santorum has eclipsed Michele Bachmann 
 
 Of the fighters on the undercard, Santorum was last night’s winner. 
 
 Armed with little by way of resources and a mere fourth-place Ames Straw Poll finish, Santorum has nonetheless been taking every opportunity to make himself more of a presence in the GOP race. 
 
 On Thursday, he dominated during the parts of the debate when Romney didn’t.
– Republicans got back into debate mode tonight, with Rick Perry and Mitt Romney trading a series of sharp and sometimes sarcastic barbs at one another over Social Security, immigration, and other issues, reports AP. No fewer than nine candidates were on the stage, thanks to the invite extended to former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson. (He got perhaps the biggest applause line of the night with this line: "My neighbor's two dogs have created more shovel-ready projects for this country" than Obama.) But Perry and Romney were the main focus, and their back-and-forth on Social Security typified things: Perry said his position on it isn't as radical as his foes say, adding it was "not the first time that Mitt's been wrong on some issues before," notes the New York Times. Romney responded: "There's a Rick Perry out there that's saying the federal government shouldn't be in the pension business. You better find that Rick Perry and get him to stop saying that." Perry then accused Romney of changing views of his Massachusetts health care law in different versions of his book, and later widened the flip-flopping charges to a host of other issues. (Romney used the phrase "nice try" at different times to deflect Perry criticisms.) Immigration also emerged as a main issue, with Romney, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Santorum criticizing the Texas policy of giving in-state tuition benefits to immigrants' kids, notes Politico. Bachmann called such programs "magnets," but Perry said of his critics, "I don't think you have a heart." Catch up with live-blogging and details on the other candidates here.