Aspirants for the Republican presidential nomination tangled Tuesday night in a New Hampshire debate on the overpwoweing issue in American politics, the economy.

Debating at Dartmouth College in Hanover were Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts; Herman Cain, past chief executive officer of Godfather's Pizza; Texas Gov. Rick Perry; Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota; Jon Huntsman, former governor of Utah and U.S. ambassador to China; Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House; Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.

Perry shot to the top of the polls after his late entry but has faded after poor performances in previous debates. Likewise, his stands on Social Security and college for children of illegal immigrants have been assailed by critics.

Perry is confronted with a more serious obstacle due to his declining poll figures.

He will have to share the limelight with Herman Cain, who is now said to be running second to Romney in many national surveys.

Disagreements between Perry and Romney have dominated the news coverage of previous debates.

As the arguments thundered this evening, a question about the rich getting richer and the increase in Americans living in poverty provoked a statement from Perry who took a jab at President Barack Obama, saying that the reason why many people are "living in poverty in this country is because of the president who is a job killer."

Since last month's unsuccessful debate in Florida, Perry has been working intensely on debate preparations. He has revised his message to offer better explanation for his positions.

As the debate came to an end, Felix Salmon of Reuters described a point in the debate as the most compelling and passionate "when the candidates were given the opportunity to ask questions of each other, and John Huntsman referred to Romney as a strip-and-flip leveraged-buyout Wall Street plutocrat."

Huntsman also dished out the simplest and most understandable final statement although it is improbable for him to win the nomination.

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