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“Gingrich supported the 1986 amnesty, and even though he concedes it was a mistake, he is willing to repeat that mistake by granting amnesty to illegal immigrants,” spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom told RCP after the debate, referring to the sweeping immigration reform legislation signed into law by Ronald Reagan

Gingrich, ever the media critic, jived well with CNN’s debate moderator, Wolf Blitzer, and even complimented his handling of the event in an interview with Gloria Borger afterward. But it was Herman Cain who appeared most comfortable with the host -- accidently referring to him as “Blitz” before correcting himself. The moderator didn’t miss a beat, replying, “Thank you, Cain.”

Yet Cain seemed barely present during the proceedings, surprising many who had anticipated the opposite after his now-infamous comments on U.S. intervention in Libya during an interview with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Cain’s response to the debate’s opening question about the USA Patriot Act was vague. He said he supported the measure, even if there are some areas that need fine-tuning. Perry suggested that the Transportation Security Administration be privatized, and Cain said he might agree. But it all boiled down to this: The terrorists "want to kill all of us, so we should use every means possible to kill them first,” Cain said.

Gingrich defended the Patriot Act signed by President George W. Bush in 2001, as did Romney. Not surprisingly, libertarian-leaning Texas Rep. Ron Paul was harshly critical, calling it “unpatriotic because undermines our liberty.”

Paul also expressed scorn at the budget-cutting efforts in Congress, but not because the super Committee failed to reach an agreement; his complaint was that Congress isn’t really committed to actual spending cuts but just limiting increases over the next 10 years.

Romney rolled his eyes at this comment and ticked off a list of U.S. weapons systems that have been cancelled because of Pentagon cuts. For the most part, however, he saved most of his criticism for President Obama and did not go after his Republican rivals.

But Bachmann did, calling Perry “very naive” for his comments that the United States should stop financially supporting Pakistan, a country the congresswoman called “too nuclear to fail.” She said the administration has “to maintain an American presence” there.

On the subject of nuclear weapons, several of the candidates advocated sanctions against countries such as Iran that are developing them. Perry suggested sanctioning the Iranian Central Bank and Gingrich said the Iranian regime could be brought down within a year “if you’re serious about stopping them.”

Jon Huntsman, who is languishing at the bottom of the polls but is going all out in New Hampshire, was a frequent participant in last night’s conversation and tried to separate himself from the pack on a variety off issues, most notably the war in Afghanistan.

The former Utah governor, most recently the U.S. ambassador to China, supported a significant force withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying the United States needs only 10,000-15,000 troops on the ground there. “The American people are getting tired of where we find ourselves today” in Afghanistan, Huntsman said. Romney disagreed, saying, “This is not time for American to cut and run.”

Erin McPike contributed to this report.