At a speech at the Citadel Military College in South Carolina on October 7, Mitt Romney outlined some of his goals for American foreign policy if he wins the presidential election in 2012. He made two large promises: first, he pledged to reverse cuts in defense spending, and second, he vowed to deploy missiles and ships.

He also assured the audience that he would rebuild the US economy, reverse President Obama’s “massive defense cuts,” and increase the number of soldiers in the military by 100,000. However, Obama has only slowed down the rate of increase in the defense budget, not cut spending. In the current fiscal year, Obama requested $533 billion for defense.

When Obama took office, the budge was $513 billion. In April, he asked the Pentagon to find where it would be feasible to cut spending by $400 billion in the next 12 years. Romney also wants to increase shipbuilding from nine ships per year to 15 ships per year. However, shipbuilding has been decreasing steadily since the 1980s because wars were concentrated on land.

Building military ships has not been a priority of the Pentagon for the last 10 years. The Navy said it needs a minimum of 313 ships. It currently has 284 ships, which is up from the 278 ships it had in 2007. The 24 Navy Aegis ships are equipped with missile defense technologies. Missile defense was another of Romney’s concerns.

Romney said he would like to intensify military presence against the Iranian regime “by ordering the regular presence of aircraft carrier task forces, one in eastern Mediterranean and one in Persian Gulf.” The US currently has full-time military presence in the Persian Gulf, but none in the eastern Mediterranean.

At the Republican candidate debate on October 11, Romney received some hard questions from fellow candidates about his healthcare initiatives and his decision to support the Wall Street bailout of 2008-2009.

Rick Perry asked about the Massachusetts healthcare plan that requires uninsured residents of the states to obtain healthcare. The plan served as a template for Obama’s healthcare plan. Romney claimed that the plan does not raise taxes or cut Medicare; however, he claimed that the Obama plan does.

The next Republican party debates will be on October 18 in Las Vegas. Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum will be attending the debate sponsored by CNN and the Western Republican Leadership Conference.
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With the 2012 election already off to a competitive start, many presidential candidates will continue to battle for the lead in the upcoming months in several scheduled debates. Many events come next for the leading GOP Presidential candidates, and job creation will be a fundamental topic surrounding each debate.

A forum, which was funded by Senator Jim DeMint, of South Carolina on Labor Day, allowed candidates the opportunity to discuss their prime issues as well as make an appearance and get some camera time.  Within the next six weeks, a total of five debates will also take place.

The upcoming debates include a CNN/Tea Party Express GOP presidential debate in Tampa on September 12^th, and in Florida on the 22nd. Following in October will be one in New Hampshire and Las Vegas. After a lifeless August, in which there was no improvement of unemployment at all, job creation is being made an even more crucial issue for not only the president but for all of the GOP Presidential candidates running in the 2012 election.

Job Creation is Obama’s most challenging problem and topic that could either get him reelected or could destroy his chances. He has put a super committee in place to reduce 1.5$ trillion in deficit spending. President Obama also made a speech on Thursday night to a joint session in Congress about his American Jobs Act, which also makes for a topic in upcoming debates.

The debates will inevitably question the president’s plans, and offer a prime occasion for each candidate to propose their own job creation plans and how to rebuild the economy. Many have already proclaimed their plans for job creation, such as Mitt Romney on Tuesday, two days before the president even announced his American Jobs Act.

These debates are critical for each candidate’s survival and support, and will be an opportunity to challenge each other’s stances. This was seen in last week’s debate when Perry and Romney challenged each other’s record on job creation. These debates are also events that can make or break candidates. Perry the front-runner will have to watch his every move to make sure he stays in the lead.

Perry’s communication director Ray Sullivan even said, “It’s not his preferred venue.” He continued on to say, “But we respect the process and intend to participate and are confident that he will have a solid performance.” Being that there are five different debates spread out enables candidate’s time to make up for weak debates, but also facilitates them to flip-flop on issues.

The debates could very well be the best way for voters to see who has the most solid answers to many of the burning issues, job creation in particular. These debates will also give the public the ability to see which candidates will stay true to their message and which ones may change throughout their campaign.

To throw yet another curve ball into things, Palin could even enter the race in late fall, which would be interesting to see how this affects campaigning for all candidates. What comes next for the already intense 2012 election? Only time will tell.

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