5:48 PM PT: Question to Cain: Your 9-9-9 plan would cut federal revenue from $2.2 trillion to no more than $2 trillion. He mumbles around, but basically it comes down to what he says is "dynamic scoring" — in other words that the economy will grow as a result of his plan. That's also known as an accounting trick. Bachmann says she thinks the 9-9-9 plan could lead to higher taxes because it gives Congress a sales tax to increase. Cain looks mortally wounded.
5:50 PM PT: Huntsman, who earlier this week said Obama was too much of a wimp, says he disagrees with Donald Trump and Mitt Romney about taking on China, because he doesn't want a trade war with China.
5:51 PM PT: I think Mitt Romney just said every previous U.S. president has been "played like a fiddle" by the Chinese. Romney says he doesn't care bout whether or not we have a trade war with China. On day #1, he says, he'll use the WTO to go after China.
5:53 PM PT: Perry says we shouldn't be focused on policy, instead we need to focus on getting to work. We don't need any 9-9-9 plan, he says, all we need is a president willing to roll back every regulation he possibly can. Basically, his platform is that the government shouldn't do anything, and that by not doing anything, it will unleash economic growth.
5:54 PM PT: Haha, Barney Frank responds to Newt:
Added Frank: “I wish I knew that he was willing to listen to my advice, I would have given him some: I would have told him not to impeach Clinton, I would have told his successors not to go to war with Iraq, and I would have told DeLay not to go on the dance show.”
Frank speculated that Gingrich’s comments were borne out of frustration with his campaign.
“He’s been having a bad year, you know — this self-styled intellectual leader of the free world struggling to stay ahead of Michele Bachmann in the polls is unsettling him so he talks even sillier than he sometimes does,” he said.