DES MOINES — Republican presidential hopefuls bickered over abortion, insisted Democrats lack the resolve to defeat terrorists and, at times, tried to distance themselves from President Bush during their first Iowa debate Sunday.

Nine GOP candidates gathered at Drake University on Sunday morning for a debate sponsored by ABC News. The

8 a.m., 90-minute forum came just six days before eight of the contenders will compete in the Iowa GOP’s straw poll in Ames.

By the time many Iowans were pouring a first cup of coffee or preparing for church, the Republicans already were wading into a long list of issues from how to proceed in Iraq to how to deal with health care and the nation’s crumbling infrastructure.

The debate opened with an exchange over abortion between former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback. Brownback backers have been making automated phone calls in recent days to Iowans questioning Romney’s anti-abortion stance.

Romney is considered the front-runner in Iowa, and Brownback has been running hard here to court conservatives with hopes of pulling a straw poll upset. The calls claim Romney backed government-funded abortions and that his wife gave money to Planned Parenthood.

“There’s one word that describes that ad, and it’s truthful,” Brownback said. “I think this is a core issue for our party.”

Romney took issue in a brief but testy exchange.

“Virtually nothing in this ad is true. The single word I’d use is ‘desperate,’ or perhaps ‘negative,’” Romney said, insisting once again that he changed his views on abortion years ago during the debate over stem cell research. “I am pro life — that’s the truth.”

But Romney backed away from criticism he leveled earlier this year about former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani’s support for legal abortions, gun control and gay rights. Those stands have hurt Giuliani’s efforts to woo Iowa conservatives even as he leads most national GOP polls.

“I think Rudy Giuliani is a terrific American and a wonderful mayor,” Romney said. “And I’d rather let him speak for him, his own positions, than me speak for him.”

Giuliani continued to insist that abortion is an issue that should be weighed by women, not government. He said politicians should work to reduce the number of abortions and increase adoptions.

Sticking by the surge

There was far more agreement on Iraq. Almost all the candidates support the Bush administration’s troop surge and argue that U.S. forces are gaining ground.

“They are making progress, and we are winning on the ground,” said Arizona Sen. John McCain, an ardent supporter of the war who has seen his campaign falter in recent weeks. “We are winning — we must win.”

While praising the troops, most of the contenders assailed Democrats, arguing that their calls for swift withdrawal from Iraq would have dire consequences.

U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter of California called the Democrats’ strategy a “stampede for the exit.” Giuliani dubbed calls for withdrawal “weakness and appeasement.”

And turning to the war in Afghanistan, Romney leveled sharp criticism at Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama. He panned the Illinois senator’s statements last week that he would be willing to hold talks with enemy states and to strike terrorist targets inside Pakistan, a U.S. ally.

“In one week, he went from saying he’s going to sit down for tea with our enemies, but then he’s going to bomb our allies,” Romney said. “He’s gone from Jane Fonda to Dr. Strangelove in one week.”

The lone voice of dissent on the war came from U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.

“We ought to just come home,” Paul said, prompting both cheers and boos from the largely partisan audience in Sheslow Auditorium. “This war is not going well because the foreign policy is defective.”

Also, former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson took issue with fellow GOP rival U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, who said the U.S. should threaten to bomb Muslim holy sites as a terrorism deterrent.

“I sincerely believe that bombing religious artifacts and religious holy sites would do nothing but unify 1 billion Muslims against us. It makes no sense,” Thompson said.

Distance from Bush

The Republican administration they hope to succeed also took a few hits.

Almost all of the hopefuls said they would not follow President Bush’s lead in making the spread of democracy a central goal of their foreign policy. Instead, they called for a more clear-eyed strategy aimed at attaining security and stability.

“I can tell you that I’m not a carbon-copy of President Bush,” Romney said. “And there are things I would do that would be done differently.”

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee also said he would chart a different course.

“I don’t think it’s the job of the United States to export our form of government. It’s the job of the United States to protect our citizens, to secure our own borders, which we have failed to do for over 20 years,” Huckabee said.

McCain and others also said they would approach the vice presidency differently after Vice President Dick Cheney’s high-profile and controversial tenure.

“I would be very careful that everybody understood there is only one president,” McCain said.

Brownback said Bush has relied too much on Cheney’s foreign policy and defense expertise.

“I think you need somebody coming into the presidency that’s had foreign policy experience, that’s worked on these national and global issues, so that they don’t have to depend on the vice president as much,” Brownback said.

Todd Dorman can be contacted at (515) 243-0138 or at todd.dorman@lee.net.

DEBATE PARTICIPANTS

U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee

U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter of California

U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado

Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson

OTHER ISSUES

Republicans presidential candidates touched on several issues.

Taxes

The candidates differed on how to proceed on tax reforms. Huckabee and Tancredo favor a radical overhaul — replacing the current tax code with a 23 percent national sales tax, or “Fair Tax.”

Brownback favors an optional flat tax while Romney, Giuliani and McCain each said they would try to simplify the system while also cutting taxes.

Health care

All of the candidates said they oppose congressional efforts to expand health care coverage for children. Thompson, Romney and Huckabee said they favor other approaches to expanding coverage to the uninsured. Giuliani favors tax credits to help people buy insurance.

Tancredo said the government should not be in the health care business.

“It is unhealthy to have a government health care plan in America,” Tancredo said.

Infrastructure

In the wake of last week’s Minneapolis bridge collapse, the candidates said more should be done to shore up the nation’s infrastructure. But they do not favor raising taxes to do it.

“We should put more money into infrastructure. We should have a good program for doing it. But the knee-jerk liberal Democratic reaction — raise taxes to get money — very often is a very big mistake,” Giuliani said.

McCain said the problem is federal transportation bills are filled with what he called “pork-barrel” projects.

“Not one dime in those pork barrel projects was for inspection or repair of bridges,” McCain said.

UP NEXT

What: Republican  straw poll

Where: Hilton Coliseum, Iowa State University, Ames

When: 1 p.m. Saturday; results announced at 7 p.m.

Who:  All announced Republican candidates except U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona and  former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Cost: $35 to vote; one vote per person; Iowa residents only

Impact: The poll results could be instrumental for several long-shot candidates, whose campaigns rely in large measure on success in Iowa.