Ex-pizza CEO defends tax plan in Republican debate

Front-runner Mitt Romney meanwhile vowed to go after a "cheating" China in Tuesday night\'s Bloomberg-Washington Post debate, the first to focus on the sputtering US economy, seen as President Barack Obama\'s greatest weakness.

The debate was hosted by Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, a high-stakes state that will hold the first primary contest, possibly in early January, in the race to challenge President Barack Obama in the November 2012 election.

Cain\'s new second-place status made him the target of far more barbs than in past debates with the crowded field of candidates, with many zeroing in on his "9-9-9" tax-slashing plan as overly simplistic and possibly dangerous.

But Cain turned in a strong performance, as did Romney, a businessman and former Massachusetts governor, who eagerly jumped on critical questions to try to distinguish himself from Obama.

Texas Governor Rick Perry -- who leaped to the front of the pack when he joined the race in August but has since slid in the polls following a string of lackluster debate performances -- managed to avoid any major missteps but failed to seriously damage Romney, his chief rival.

The candidates tackled a range of economic topics, including China\'s growing role in the world economy and a Senate bill passed Tuesday that would punish Beijing for alleged currency manipulation.

China slammed the bill as a "time-bomb" that could spark a trade war between the world\'s two largest economies, but the legislation has little chance of being voted on in the House of Representatives and is effectively dead.

Jon Huntsman, a former US ambassador to China, argued against slapping penalties on the Asian giant for what critics allege are unfair trade practices, warning of a trade war that would hurt US exporters.

"If you start slapping penalties on (China) based on countervailing duties, you are going to get the same thing in return... and then you\'re going to find yourself in a trade war very, very quickly," he said.

But Romney vowed strong action against Chinese "cheating," repeating his promise to issue an executive order deeming China a currency manipulator.

"The Chinese are smiling all the way to the bank, taking our currency and taking our jobs and taking a lot of our future," he said.

"If you are not willing to stand up to China, you will get run over by China, and that\'s what\'s happened for 20 years."

Hours earlier, Romney snagged the plum endorsement of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who last week declined to jump into the race despite being heavily wooed by Republicans looking for a strong new candidate.

Several Republicans attacked the "9-9-9" plan touted by Cain, a former Godfather\'s Pizza CEO, which would scrap the US tax code in favor of a nine percent national sales tax, corporate tax and individual tax.

Huntsman, in one of the lighter moments of the debate, quipped: "I thought it was the price of a pizza when I first heard about it."

Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann -- popular among the ultra-Conservative Tea Party movement -- also objected to Cain\'s plan, saying "the last thing you would do is give Congress another pipeline of a revenue stream, and this gives Congress a pipeline in a sales tax."

She added, in a reference to the infamous "666" number in the Bible, that "when you take the \'9-9-9\' plan and you turn it upside down, I think the devil is in the details."

The newfound attention on Cain underscored his rising popularity among Republican voters looking for an outsider to shake up Washington and drastically reduce the size and reach of the federal government.

A Gallup poll released Monday found Romney barely in the lead, at 20 percent, followed by Cain at 18 percent and Perry at 15 percent.

After the debate, Paul Young, senior adviser to Perry in New Hampshire, dismissed polls suggesting his candidate is in trouble.

"We\'re on track and where we want to be," said Young, adding that in a few days Perry will release the first part of a plan to create 1.2 million jobs by opening up new areas for oil drilling.

"We have good organizational structure put together. We raised $17 million (in the most recent fund-raising quarter). And we are putting out detailed policy plans," he added.

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