Jan. 24 Republican debate transcript

Russert: Governor Huckabee, George Bush has been president since 2001. The Republicans controlled Congress for most of those years, losing control in 2006. With this economic scorecard, why should the American people keep the Republicans in charge?

Huckabee: Well, Tim, let me remind you I wasn't in Washington during all of this time. So that's one of the reasons they ought to give me a chance, since I wasn't there messing this up.

Russert: So you do think that President Bush and the Republicans in Congress did not measure up?

Huckabee: I don't think you can blame all of this on President Bush. The president also has done, I think, a fine job of making sure that the focus of his White House was also keeping us safe.

But let's look at those economic issues. A few months ago, when we were all in Dearborn, Michigan, your network was the sponsor, with CNBC and MSNBC, and every one of us were asked, "How's the economy doing?" Every one of my colleagues said, "It's doing great." And they gave all the numbers.

When they came to me, I know people acted like I was the only guy at the U.N. without a headset that night. But the truth is I was the only guy on that stage who said, "It may be doing great if you're at the top."

But if you talk to the people at the bottom of the economy, the people who are handling the bags, the people who are serving the food, you'd get a different picture, because their health care costs are up dramatically. Costs to educate their children are up. And the cost of their fuel has way outstripped any wage increase they've had.

Now, often we hear people talk about trickle-down economics, that if you have a wonderful surge in the economy, that it eventually works its way down to all sectors.

But there's another issue, too: There's a trickle-up impact when the economy begins to go sour.

And if you pay attention to the people who are the single moms and the working people who barely get from paycheck to paycheck, you'd find out months in advance that this economy was headed for a downward turn.

And that's what I think people need in the president, is somebody who understands the totality of the American family, and not just the folks at the top.

Russert: Governor Romney, higher deficits, higher debt, higher unemployment, higher gas prices. Is that the kind of Republican record that you want to run on?

Romney: I'm not going to run on that record, I'll tell you that. I can run on my own record. I can run on my record of having been in the private sector for 25 years, my record for having helped turned around the Olympics, my record as the governor of Massachusetts. I'll run on that record of accomplishment.

Russert: Will you run away from this record?

Romney: What I'll do is I'll run away from the record of Washington. You see, Washington is fundamentally broken. Washington has made promises to us over the last decade that they just haven't been able to fulfill.

You can go down the list. They said they'd solve the problem of Social Security. They haven't. They said they'd rein in spending. We got all sorts of people, almost every congressman and senator says they're going to cut spending, cut those earmarks, cut that mentality in Washington. But somehow, every year more and more and more money goes in.

They said they'd live by high ethics. They haven't. They said they'd solve the problem of illegal immigration. They haven't. They said they'd get us off of foreign oil. They haven't.

Issue after issue that's been raised over the past couple of three decades have -- has been spoken about, and Washington has failed to deliver. And I'm not going to...

Russert: Both parties?

Romney: Both parties. And change is going to have to begin with us in our party. We are the party of change. We are the party of fiscal responsibility.

And when Republicans act like Democrats, America loses. And you've seen that over the last several years. We're going to have to make sure that we rein in spending. It's not just -- we all agree, the earmarks and the pork barrel spending and the bridge to nowhere, that's an easy one to take a shot at. But the big one is entitlements and reining in entitlement costs. And that's where the big dollars are.

And then you go on to say how are we going to bring down taxation, because we have the highest tax rate next to Japan in the world? That hurts our economy.

What you're seeing in the weakening dollar, in the declining stock market, in foreign countries coming here to buy into our banks, you are seeing an underground -- the foundation of our economy being shaken by the fact that we haven't been doing the job that needs to be done in Washington.

And I'm going to Washington to change Washington.