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Romney piled on, suggesting that Gingrich took too much credit for achievements that occurred during his four-year leadership of the House and noted that he was mentioned just once in Ronald Reagan’s diary -- and in a negative light.

Though it might have been overshadowed by the Gingrich-King exchange, Santorum delivered a feisty performance of his own, time and again challenging his opponents on an array of issues more directly and emphatically than he has done in the past.

Santorum appeared to put Romney on the defensive concerning the Massachusetts health care plan when he suggested that Romney “tells a nice story” on opposing President Obama’s national health care overhaul but does not have a record to match his rhetoric.

“It was the basis for ObamaCare, and you do not draw a distinction that’s going to be effective for us,” Santorum said of what has been called RomneyCare.

Santorum also hit back forcefully when asked to respond to Gingrich’s suggestion that the former Pennsylvania senator was a “junior partner” in the Republican revolution in Washington during the 1990s.

“Grandiosity has never been a problem with Newt Gingrich,” Santorum said. “I served with him. I was there. I knew what the problems were going on in the House of Representatives when Newt Gingrich was leading there.”

The focus throughout the night remained on Gingrich.

Soon after the debate began, Gingrich’s aides posted his tax returns to his campaign website and released them to the media.

Gingrich paid nearly $995,000 in taxes in 2010 on his income of about $3.14 million, a rate of more than 31 percent.

Romney has spent the past week taking punches for not clarifying definitively whether he would release his tax returns. In a Fox News Channel/Wall Street Journal debate Monday night, Romney said that he might release his return for the past year in April and noted the next day that his tax rate was approximately 15 percent.

When pinned down multiple times on the issue during Thursday’s debate, Romney finally said that when his taxes are completed in April, he will release them.

Why not before, King wanted to know, so that Republican primary voters can consider any issues that emerge from the release?

“Because I want to make sure that I beat President Obama,” Romney said, complaining that Democrats make hay out of every personal issue in a “drip, drip, drip” fashion.

Gingrich wasn’t satisfied and asked Romney, “If there’s nothing in there, why not release it?”

King pursued the issue further, pointing out that Romney's father, George, was the first presidential candidate to release tax returns and offered 12 years’ worth when he ran in 1968. Would the younger Romney offer up multiple years of returns?

“Maybe,” Romney said, laughing.

After pausing to let the audience finish its jeers, Romney said, “I’m not going to apologize for being successful.” He added, “I didn’t inherit money from my parents. I worked hard.”

Santorum said that he prepares his own tax returns on his family computer and would release them when he gets home and completes the task.

For his part, Ron Paul joked that he wasn’t planning to release his returns, in part out of embarrassment because he has earned far less money than his competitors for the GOP nomination.