Rick Perry defended himself from a multi-front attack on his immigration record at Thursday night’s GOP debate, accusing his opponents of being “heartless” in their attitude toward the children of undocumented immigrants.

Three of his opponents – including his nearest competitor, Mitt Romney – accused Perry of coddling illegal immigrants with a law allowing children who broke the law by entering the United States to claim in-state tuition benefits in Texas.
“That kind of magnet draws people into this country to get that education,” Romney charged. “We have to turn off the magnet of extraordinary government benefits.”

Under fire from Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann on the same issue, Perry said he didn’t believe in punishing children who entered the country illegally through no fault of their own.

To candidates who disagree, Perry said: “I don’t think they have a heart.”

“We need to be educating these children because they will become a drag on our society,” Perry said, drawing boos from the Orlando debate audience.

The exchange over immigration was a rare debate moment that saw the staunchly conservative Perry put on the defensive by attacks from the right.

In general, the debate hosted by Fox News, Google and the Republican Party of Florida followed a familiar script: Perry and Romney attack each others’ views on Social Security, everybody beats up on the Obama administration and most of the candidates fade into the background.

In addition to Perry, Romney, Bachmann and Santorum, there were five other candidates on stage: Herman Cain, Ron Paul, Jon Huntsman, Newt Gingrich and Gary Johnson, the former New Mexico governor making his first debate appearance in months.

For much of the first hour, the debate was a fairly humdrum affair, showcasing an array of high-tech bells and whistles offered by the debate co-sponsors at Google.

The first set of questions came from viewers who submitted their questions on YouTube, and largely allowed the candidates to recite talking points without being challenged by moderators.

And Fox took time away from the candidate forum to share results from instant polls of the debate viewers, who answered questions such as: How much does someone need to make before they are considered rich?

Fox host Shannon Bream called it the “most interactive debate ever” – but much of that interaction was between a handful of audience members, rather than the GOP candidates.

Perry and Romney were the exception, and the two national frontrunners escalated their ongoing clash over entitlement programs – and the books that both men have authored.

For the third debate in a row, Romney criticized Perry for saying in his book that “the federal government shouldn’t be in the pension business, that [Social Security is] unconstitutional.”

“There’s a Rick Perry out there” saying Social Security is unconstitutional, Romney told his opponent sarcastically. “You better find that Rick Perry and tell him to stop saying that.”

Perry responded by throwing the flip-flopper label back at Romney, accusing him of tweaking the language in his book for its paperback edition, in order to revise his position on the Massachusetts health care law.

“Your hard copy book, you said it was exactly what the American people needed,” Perry said, accusing Romney of backing away from that view.

Romney responded by saying he stood by his book, noting with a hint of contempt: “I actually wrote my book.”

As the top two candidates competing for the GOP nomination batted familiar attacks back and forth, Perry quipped “It’s kinda like badminton.”

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