Republican presidential candidates last night united in opposition to Hillary Clinton – and her husband – a cause which continues to galvanise their party's demoralised base support ahead of Florida's primary on Tuesday.

In a TV debate in Boca Raton, Mrs Clinton's name was never far from the lips of Republicans. By contrast, Barack Obama – her rival for the Democratic nomination – was not mentioned once.

Mitt Romney even appeared to hint he would campaign hard on scandals such as the Monica Lewinsky affair, which dogged the Clinton administration a decade ago.

When asked how he would run a general election campaign against the former president and First Lady, he replied: "I frankly can't wait because the idea of Bill Clinton back in the White House with nothing to do is something I can't imagine – the American people can't imagine."

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He went on to describe Mrs Clinton as "so out of step with the American people", criticising her position on health care, taxes and Iraq, before saying she is "exactly what's wrong with Washington". Earlier the former Massachusetts governor had derisively dismissed the Democratic Senator, who seeks to be the first woman commander-in-chief, as "General Hillary Clinton".

John McCain, who is shown by polls to be locked in a close contest with Mr Romney in Florida, was largely overshadowed on economic questions. But he was back on his home territory of national security as he denounced Mrs Clinton for flying the "white flag of surrender" over future military involvement in Iraq.

Rudy Giuliani, who has seen his formerly frontrunning campaign falter – even in Florida which he had counted on to deliver a much-needed win – also criticised Mrs Clinton for changing her mind on Iraq. "She used to be in favour of the war," he said, "now she's against it."

Last night almost the Republican fire was directed towards Mrs Clinton, rather than at each other.

Mike Huckabee remained as gentlemanly as ever towards Mr McCain, distancing himself from remarks made by Chuck Norris - one of his celebrity supporters - who had suggested the 71-year-old Senator might be too old to be president. The former Arkansas governor said the vigour of Mr McCain's 95-year-old mother, Roberta, proved otherwise.

But Mr McCain was then asked about remarks by his mother in a TV interview where she suggested her son has had been given no help by the Republican base, which continues to regard his positions on issues such as immigration with suspicion. She said party activists would be "holding their nose [because] they’re going to have to take him”.

Her son replied that Republicans supported his dedication to the fight against Islamic extremism and "know I'll put my country ahead of my party every time".

Mr Giuliani claimed he had lulled all his rivals into "a false sense of security" and even joked about this being the reason why Mr Romney was being nice to him. He later added: "We're going to come from behind, we're going to win here in Florida."

The tepid nature of last night's debate is a marked contrast to the over-heated advertising war between Mr McCain and Mr Romney who yesterday both launched aggressive new slots against each other.

Mr Romney, who declined invitations to disclose how much of his own personal fortune he had invested in the campaign, was later asked why other candidates appeared to dislike him so much. "I'm not going to Washington to make friends with politicians," he replied, "I'm going to Washington to change things".

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