John McCain last night capped a resurgent week for his presidential campaign with a forceful and combative performance in the first televised debate among the 10 Republican contenders.

Mr McCain, who according to new polls has bounced back from a lackluster start and now leads his major rivals in the key early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, appeared more sure footed than the current frontrunner, Rudy Giuliani. The former New York mayor particularly struggled on the issue of abortion, a crucial issue for conservative voters who hold the key to choosing the party’s presidential nominee.

Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, also put in an impressive performance, despite facing awkward questions about his former support for abortion. He was at times slick, confident and occasionally funny, on a night when Mr Giuliani failed to shine.

In a debate held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library overlooking southern California’s Simi Valley, the 10 candidates all strived to compare themselves to the former president, a hero among Republicans and conservatives, and to invoke his name. Mr Reagan, buried a few hundred yards from the debate stage, was mentioned no less than 16 times, while President Bush’s name was not uttered once.

Expert View

If there was a clear winner of last night’s first presidential debate it was probably Ronald Reagan. A clear loser was probably George W Bush

Gerard Baker

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The yearning to inherit the mantle of Reagan reflects a dispiriting time for the Republicans. After losing control of Congress last November, a disastrous war and a string of corruption scandals, many within the party believe it has lost its way and now view the Reagan years as a golden era of clear-eyed strength.

None of the three leading contenders made any major blunders during a debate in which they largely steered clear of attacking each other. The 90 minutes of questioning will do little to change their status as the top tier of Republican candidates. But Mr McCain is clearly gaining traction and has recaptured much of the “straight talk” persona that marked his 2000 primary battle against Mr Bush.

Missing from the proceedings, but hovering over them like Banquo’s ghost, was Fred Thompson, the former senator and ‘Law and Order’ star. Despite not having even entered the race, he is polling in second place among primary voters. Many see him as the only true Reaganite conservative among the field and Mr Thompson is now hinting that he will enter the race in July. He makes a speech tonight to a prominent group of Californian conservatives just a few miles from the Reagan library.

In stark contrast to the Democrats’ opening debate last week, all the leading Republican contenders opposed a troop withdrawal from Iraq and backed Mr Bush’s surge plan. But it was Mr McCain – the candidate most strongly identified with the troop increase – who was the most aggressive in defending the new strategy, and also the most sharply critical of how Mr Bush has bungled of the war.

The candidates must execute an awkward political dance on Iraq. Although two-thirds of Americans oppose the war, a large majority of Republican primary voters still support it and Mr Bush. Mr Romney and Mr Giuliani both declined to overtly criticise Mr Bush, but Mr McCain, who has wanted a surge of troops for three years, said: “I would not have mismanaged the war.” However, he added: “We now have a strategy which I pray every night will work.”

The candidates were far more aggressive on Iran than the Democrats last week with one, Duncan Hunter, a long shot Californian congressman, advocating military action against Tehran.

Mr McCain said: "Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism. We all know that. Iran continues their efforts to build nuclear weapons. My greatest fear is the Iranians acquire a nuclear weapon and give it to a terrorist organization and there is a real threat of them doing that.”

Mr Giuliani, who called the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “absolutely irrational”, said a military strike against Tehran would be “very dangerous”, but not as dangerous as a nuclear-armed Iran.

"It's the worst nightmare of the Cold War isn't it? The nuclear weapons in the hands of an irrational person,” Mr Giuliani said.

It was the issue of abortion, one of the most important to conservatives, that caused Mr Giuliani, and Mr Romney, the most difficulties. Asked if he agreed that overturning Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling legalising abortion, would be a good thing, Mr Giuliani struggled. Unlike the other nine candidates, who all supported overturning Roe, Mr Giuliani appeared to waffle, saying: “It would be OK to repeal it. It would be OK also if a strict constructionist [judge] viewed it as precedent.” He later said that although he “hated” abortion, he still supports abortion rights.

Mr Romney also had to explain why, after supporting abortion rights for years, he abruptly announced two years ago that he was now pro-life. He again invoked Ronald Reagan – who also switched from being pro-choice to pro-life – and said: “I was wrong. I changed my mind.”

The nearest the candidates came to a direct confrontation occurred when Mr Romney and Mr McCain sparred over the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Last week, Mr Romney said: "It's not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person," and advocated a broader strategy to defeat Islamic jihadists. Mr McCain had called the comment "naive."

Under questioning, Romney defended his comment, saying: "It's more than Osama bin Laden. But he is going to pay and he will die."

Mr McCain shot back: "We will do whatever is necessary. We will track him down. We will catch him. We will bring him to justice and I'll follow him to the gates of hell.”

Also on stage were Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas; former Governors Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin, Jim Gilmore of Virginia, and congressmen Tom Tancredo of Colorado, Duncan Hunter of California and Ron Paul of Texas.

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