IMPEACH BUSH

SIMI VALLEY – The 10 Republican presidential candidates eagerly embraced the legacy of Ronald Reagan yesterday while barely acknowledging the current occupant of the White House.

In fact, President Bush's name was mentioned only once by one candidate during a 90-minute, nationally televised debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

The debate marked the first time the Republican White House hopefuls appeared together, and there was broad agreement about continuing the present policy in Iraq for now. But some of the candidates offered pointed criticism about how the war has been waged.

"If we withdraw, there will be chaos, there will be genocide and it will follow us home," said Sen. John McCain of Arizona. He added, "The war was terribly mismanaged, and we now have to fix a lot of the mistakes that were made."

The candidates aired sharper differences on social issues, particularly abortion and stem cell research.

The debate afforded the seven lesser-known candidates an opportunity to try to enhance their stature by sharing the stage with the generally acknowledged front-runners: former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and McCain.

Joining them were Rep. Duncan Hunter of Alpine, Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado.

Looming over the gathering was the apparent emergence of an 11th contender, former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee. He is expected to further lay the groundwork for a campaign in a speech tonight to the Lincoln Club of Orange County in Newport Beach.

Polls indicate Thompson would break into the top tier as soon as he enters

With an unpopular war in Iraq dominating the campaign, candidates' differences over how the United States should proceed largely amounted to nuance.

McCain, the stoutest defender of the war, would seem to have his fate inextricably tied to it. As such, he rhetorically straddled the issue by heartily embracing the recent troop buildup while denouncing the Bush administration as having botched the job.

Several other candidates expressed a desire to bring U.S. troops home as soon as the Iraqi military is capable of taking over, but warned against a precipitous withdrawal. "The key to winning in Iraq is standing up the Iraqi military," Hunter said.

Thompson, also a former secretary of health and human services, offered a different approach, calling for a vote by the Iraqi government on whether U.S. forces should stay or go.

Only Paul, a one-time Libertarian Party presidential nominee, spoke out against U.S. involvement in Iraq in the first place.

When it came to social issues, Giuliani was frequently the odd man out.

Virtually all of the candidates expressed strong opposition to abortion rights, while Giuliani seemed defensive as he explained his position in favor of abortion rights and New York state policy of funding abortions for poor women.

Giuliani equivocated when asked if Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that ushered in abortion rights across the nation, should be overturned.

"It would be OK to repeal," he said. "It would be OK also, if a strict-constructionist judge viewed it as precedent."

Twice, however, Giuliani said, "I hate abortions," and said he supports the ban on the late-term abortion opponents call "partial-birth abortion." But he said he believes the decision is one of conscience that a woman has a right to make.

Gilmore also said he supported a woman's right to have an abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy, but that he opposed late-term abortions and supported laws requiring parental consent for minors to have abortions.

All the other candidates opposed abortion rights.

Romney, who has faced criticism for changing his position on the issue, said he has always been anti-abortion personally, but he admitted promising to support the abortion-rights laws in Massachusetts when he was running for governor.

"I said I'd protect the law as it was, which is effectively a pro-choice position," he said. "About two years ago, when we were studying cloning in our state, I said: 'Look, we have gone too far. It's a 'Brave New World' mentality that Roe v. Wade has given us,' and I changed my mind."

Romney also voiced strong opposition to stem cell research – a position that put him on the opposite side of former first lady Nancy Reagan, who was seated in the first row of the debate hall. Reagan has urged expanded federal funding of stem cell research, in part because it might help find a cure for Alzheimer's, which President Reagan battled for 10 years before his death in 2004.

Romney said his wife has a serious disease that could be affected by stem cell research. But, he said, "I will not create new embryos through cloning or through embryo farming, because that will be creating new life for the purpose of destroying it."

Gilmore agreed, saying, "We can't create people in order to experiment with people."

Hunter said he would like to show "Mrs. Reagan the alternatives, which are adult stem cells."

McCain, however, said he supports federal funding of stem cell research, saying that those stem cells are either going to be discarded or perpetually frozen, if not used for research. "We need to do what we can to relieve human suffering," he said. "It's a tough issue."

Giuliani said he backs federal funding but with limitations, including a ban on human cloning or creating life in order to destroy it.

The candidates debated in a huge auditorium containing the Boeing 707 named C-137, 72-7000 – better known in its day as Air Force One. With Nancy Reagan seated in the first row next to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, candidates repeatedly invoked the late 40th president's name.

"What we can borrow from Ronald Reagan, since we are in his library, is that great sense of optimism that he had," Giuliani said.

Moderator Chris Matthews of MSNBC acknowledged Schwarzenegger's presence and asked the candidates if they thought the Constitution should be amended so that the Austrian-born governor and other immigrants would be allowed to run for president.

"With Arnold sitting there, I'll give it some thought, but probably no," Romney said.

Only Giuliani and Huckabee said they favored a constitutional amendment, while other candidates, including Hunter, said they did not.

McCain ducked the question with a quip referring to Schwarzenegger: "We have many similar attributes, so I'd have to consider it. Depends on if he endorses me."

The divide between Republicans in the House and Senate over immigration policy was in evidence yesterday. Hunter called for a border crackdown, while McCain called for a broader solution that includes a guest-worker program and an opportunity for the estimated 12 million people in the country illegally to legalize their status.

"We need to address it comprehensively," McCain said.

Hunter disagreed.

"I built that border fence. We brought down the smuggling of people and narcotics by 90 percent," he said. "One way to bring down crime in California and every other state in the union is to enforce that border."

On taxes, McCain acknowledged changing his mind about making the administration's tax cuts permanent. He said he initially opposed permanently extending the tax cuts because there were no restraints on federal spending, which he said the White House has allowed to "lurch completely out of control."

Now he believes that "these tax cuts need to be made permanent or they'll have the effect of a tax increase."

On tax policy, some candidates – Gilmore, Giuliani and McCain – called for reducing or ending the alternative minimum tax. Romney advocated ending taxes on interest, dividends and capital gains. Brownback endorsed a flat-tax system, while Paul called for getting rid of the income tax and with it the Internal Revenue Service.

John Marelius: john.marelius@uniontrib.com