On a chilly Saturday night, hundreds of supporters and protesters lined the street of University Avenue along the the campus of Drake University in Des Moines for the ABC Republican Debate.

The debate opened with a series of short introductions from several Iowa leaders, including Iowa Republican Gov. Terry Branstad, Iowa Republican Party Chairman Matt Strawn and the president of Drake University, David Maxwell. Branstad and Strawn stressed the importance of Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus, while Maxwell gave his praise to the canidadates and the school.

After a brief technical transfer, the mics were handed over to ABC moderators George Stephanopoulos and Diane Sawyer, who introduced the six presidential candidates as they approached the stage and the debate began. The debate immediately shifted its focus to jobs and the economy as Sawyer asked the candidates how the way would get America back on track.

“I understand where jobs are created, they’re not creating in government, they’re not created in Washington,” said former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. “We need to have trade policies that make sense for America.”

“I would like to cut $1 trillion in the first year,” said Texas Congressman Ron Paul. “That is the biggest culprit.”

Other candidates also stressed similar positions, including tax cuts for both individuals and businesses, repealing Obamacare and getting rid of regulations that many of the candidates felt were holding back businesses from growing and creating jobs.

The next question of the night focused on the debate going on in Washington over extending the tax cuts for the middle class, which are set to expire on Dec. 31. The candidates expressed differing views on the issue, which represented the first real divide of the night among the candidates.

“This is just a band-aid. We need to figure out how we are going to make America competitive again,” Romney said. “The right course for America is to have a president who understands the economy.”

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum had a different take.

“We are going to have a serious debate about how to fix Social Security,” Santorum said. “You either care about Social Security and you fund it, or you don’t.”

Romney tried to take a swipe at former House Speaker Newt Gingrich early in the debate by mentioning how Gingrich was a life-long Washington insider, both during and after his time as a Georgia congressman. However, Gingrich immediately struck back by saying Romney would have been a career-long politician if he had not lost an election to Ted Kennedy in 1994.

Additionally, many other candidates, trying to neutralize Gingrich’s rise, also took their own swipes against him for being a Washington lobbyist and not truly a conservative — especially on the issue of health care — in an attempt to bring their own voice to the table.

“Both of these gentlemen [Gingrich and Romney] have been through the individual mandate,” said Texas Gov. Rick Perry. “The fact of the matter is: You and Newt were for individual mandates.”

“We have one shot to get rid of Obamacare,” said Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. “Are these two men [Gingrich and Romney] honestly going to get rid of it as president? I didn’t sit on my hands while I was in Congress. I knew our country was going to lose because of socialized medicine. As president of the United States, I will take on every special interests … I won’t rest until we repeal Obamacare.”

As the night went on, the issue later turned to immigration and national security. Many candidates had been stressing in their campaigns that the borders of the United States needed to be first and foremost secured, without question. More specifically, however, the candidates had varying opinions on how to deal with illegal immigrants.

“We should make deportation dramatically easier and we need to have an effective guest-worker program,” Gingrich said. “This is not amnesty.”

Romney had a slightly different view on the issue.

“Whenever we start talk about amnesty … we will then create another magnet that draws people into our country illegally,” Romney said. “Those 11 million people should register here in the country, return home and get in line with everyone else who want to come here. No favoritism for those who came here illegally.”

The next issue was foreign policy. Gingrich had caused a stir the previous night when he called the Palestinian people an “invented people,” a statement that many candidates had to comment on.

“Somebody ought to tell the truth,” Gingrich said. “These people [Palestinians] are terrorists.”

“I think we are very wise to stand with Israel,” Romney said. “Israel does not want us to make it more difficult for them to sit down with the Palestinians. My view is we stand with the Israeli people … we are going to tell the truth, but are not going to throw incendiary words into the mix.”

“You have to speak the truth but you have to do so with prudence,” Santorum said. “The policy of this country should be to stand shoulder to shoulder with our ally [Israel] … The West Bank is Israeli land and we need to stand with Israel on that.”

The night ended with a level of reconciliation among the candidates who were asked to describe someone whom they have looked up to in the past and make their closing announcements.

“Congressman Paul got me intrigued with Federal Reserve,” Perry said. “The people of this country really want to get this country back on track … this election is about the future of this country.”

“This is a time of real leadership … I will help restore that light on the shining hill,” Romney said.

Gingrich gave his praise to Branstad while also praising the conservative efforts of Perry and Santorum. Paul spoke of bringing people together, and Bachmann gave her praises to former GOP candidate Herman Cain and his ability to be plain spoken.