(COLUMBIA, S.C.) -- Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain spent Monday afternoon in front of a panel of three conservative inquisitors, including Tea Party icon, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC). They peppered each candidate with a detailed series of questions on everything from gay marriage to whether the United States was still the “shining city on a hill” that Ronald Reagan famously envisioned.
And when they weren’t explaining the depth of their commitment to conservative principles, each used Monday’s Palmetto Freedom Forum to take a few swipes at President Obama.
When asked what he would do differently in the area of foreign policy, Romney replied, “A lot. First, I’d have one.”
Gingrich dismissed the jobs speech President Obama plans to deliver this week, predicting that it would be a “collection of minor ideas surrounded by big rhetoric.”
Michele Bachmann said that Obama has failed in his responsibility “to act under the Constitution and not place oneself over the Constitution.”
The candidates did not engage with each other face-to-face as they will Wednesday at a debate in California and notably, the current Republican frontrunner, Texas Gov. Rick Perry was a no-show at the forum. Though Perry took part in another campaign event across the state Monday morning, he canceled on event organizers at the last minute in order to return to Texas to deal with the wildfires there.
Also absent were candidates Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman, who were left off the roster because they did not meet the polling threshold — an average of 5 percent in national polls — set by organizers of the event.
After the forum, Sen. DeMint reflected on the two-hour-long session, saying he was not sure if it brought him any closer to a decision on who to endorse.
Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio
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(COLUMBIA, S.C.) -- September marks National Preparedness Month in the United States, and state officials are taking the opportunity to urge families, schools and businesses to review their emergency plans.
