A look at key moments in the GOP debate

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Key moments in Monday night's GOP presidential debate:

Big moment:

To open the debate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney immediately went after each other on Social Security — with Perry defending his inflammatory language and Romney accusing Perry of scaring seniors.

"It has been called a Ponzi scheme by many people long before me," Perry said. The Texas governor has also called the social safety net a "monstrous lie."

AP Photo/Chris O'Meara

Republican presidential candidates, from left, Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, businessman Herman Cain, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, sing the National Anthem before a Republican presidential debate Monday in Tampa, Fla.

"I think the word 'Ponzi scheme' is over the top and unnecessary and frightful to many people," Romney snapped back.

But Perry was careful to say that he wanted to preserve the program for seniors who already rely on it, and for those who are about to start receiving checks from the program — a point he was more careful to make this time than he was at a debate earlier in September.

Also unlike the earlier debate: Perry readily criticized Romney's positions.

"You said if people did it in the private sector it would be called criminal. That's in your book," Perry said, pointing to Romney's writing about borrowing from the Social Security Trust.

• Romney likened Perry and his job creation record to a lucky poker player who is dealt four aces. Romney says Texas enjoys advantages other states lack — such as oil and a Republican legislature — that allowed Texans to fare better than people in other states during the recession. Perry laughed that he liked Romney's praise of Texas until he started talking about poker.
• Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann fiercely criticized Perry's decision to require that sixth-grade girls receive a vaccination to prevent the human papillomavirus. As governor of Texas, Perry signed an executive order mandating the HPV shots, though his decision was overturned by the state legislature. Bachmann says that order amounted to a "government injection" that threatened the rights of parents and benefited Perry's donors. Perry stood by his decision to require the vaccines because they can prevent cervical cancer.
• Perry renewed his criticism of President Barack Obama's jobs plan as a second stimulus plan that won't put Americans back to work. Obama, a favorite subject of GOP criticism, would create "zero jobs," the Texas governor said, a characterization the Congressional Budget Office refutes.

Key quotes:

• "I'm a mom. And I'm a mom of three children. And to have innocent little 12-year-old girls be forced to have a government injection through an executive order is just flat-out wrong. That should never be done. ... Little girls who have a negative reaction to this potentially dangerous drug don't get a mulligan. They don't get a do-over. The parents don't get a do-over." — Bachmann, criticizing Perry on the HPV vaccine.
• "The company was Merck, and it was a $5,000 contribution that I had received from them. I raise about $30 million. And if you're saying that I can be bought for $5,000, I'm offended." — Perry, responding to Bachmann's suggestion that he issued the HPV mandate to reward donors.
• "Well, I'm offended for all the little girls and the parents that didn't have a choice. That's what I'm offended for." — Bachmann, refusing to yield.
• "The question is: Do you still believe that Social Security should be ended as a federal program, as you did six months ago when your book came out, and returned to the states or do you want to retreat from that?" — Romney, pressuring Perry on his position on Social Security.
• "I think we ought to have a conversation." — Perry replied.
• "We're having that right now, governor. We're running for president." — Romney.
• "For Rick to say that you can't secure the border I think is pretty much a treasonous comment." — former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, criticizing Perry's position on the border.

Top laughs:

• "Well, look, I think Governor Perry would agree with me that if you're dealt four aces that doesn't make you necessarily a great poker player." — Romney, on Texas' economic record.
• "I was going to say, 'Mitt, you were doing pretty good until you got to talking poker.'" — Perry, responding.
• "My taxes have gone up. Our taxes have doubled since he's been in office. Our spending has gone up double. Our debt has gone up nearly triple. ... And 170,000 of the jobs were government jobs. So I would put a little damper on this, but I don't want to offend the governor, because he might raise my taxes or something." — Rep. Ron Paul of Texas on Perry's record.