Policies are focus as Cain, Gingrich go one-on-one

THE WOODLANDS, Texas - The two-man debate between GOP presidential candidates Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich started out Saturday evening with questions on health-care spending and Social Security's future - and completely bypassed the biggest political story of the week, the decade-old sexual harassment allegations that have dogged Cain's campaign.

Tea party organizers of the event near Houston said that matter, which has consumed the GOP race over the last week, was off the table. It came as welcome news to Cain as he tries to refocus on policy issues.

"Long-term projections about what a government program is going to cost have never been right," Cain said, projecting confidence as he sat side-by-side with the former House speaker in high-back chairs.

"Name one," Cain challenged the audience with similar defiance he displayed all week as he fought to steady his political campaign.

"We have to come up with solutions that are actually better," Gingrich told the room packed with conservatives.

Saturday's $200-per-ticket event was modeled after the 1858 debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas.

Those debates between rivals for a U.S. Senate seat from Illinois were sprawling discussions of substance that politicians hold up as models for civil discussions.

Gingrich, a former history professor, lauds them during his campaign and has proposed a series of seven three-hour debates with President Obama.

The other candidates vying for the Republican nomination were invited; only Cain and Gingrich accepted the invitation.

Saturday's 90-minute forum was intended to allow Cain and Gingrich to debate specifics in their economic plans, with U.S. Rep. Steve King of Iowa on hand to moderate if necessary.

Organizers ditched the time limits, bells, and fast pace of the previous debates that included the full field - Gingrich decried them as encouraging useless answers instead of responses offered in "a non-30-second, a nontrivial way."

And during the opening moments, Cain pledged to have a conversation, not a debate.

"Since it's the two of us, we can change the rules as we go," Cain said.