ANCHESTER, N.H. - In the final debate before next Tuesday's primary, George W. Bush and Senator John McCain last night tried to break their deadlock at the top of the New Hampshire polls with a series of sharp and sometimes angry exchanges over taxes, education, and corporate loopholes.
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WHO: Gary Bauer, George W. Bush, Steve Forbes, Alan Keyes, John McCain.
WHEN: Wednesday, Jan. 26, 7-8:30 p.m. EST.
WHERE: WMUR studio, Manchester, N.H.
MODERATOR: CNN's Judy Woodruff and WMUR's Tom Griffith.
SPONSORS: WMUR-TV and CNN.
 Bush, McCain spar on taxes, education
Truth Squad: Having it two ways in GOP debate
Keyes criticized for falling into mosh pit
Candidates detail views of government-funded 'Net access
Causes vie to be heard on street
Crowds, cars create chaos in town
Excerpts from the debate
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McCain, who for weeks has seen his tax cut plan attacked by Bush, tried to turn the tables on the Texas governor, challenging him to name a single corporate loophole that he would close as president. But Bush wouldn't bite, saying instead that as president he would invite McCain to the White House to ''outline all corporate loopholes and we'll pick and choose.''
''You seem to depict the role of president as some kind of hapless bystander,'' retorted McCain.
The Bush-McCain broadsides so dominated the evening that Steve Forbes complained that the format of the 90-minute debate, sponsored by WMUR-TV and CNN, was unfair. But Forbes, along with Gary Bauer and Alan Keyes, also took to the offensive in their remarks, each hoping for a strong enough showing to survive beyond the first-in-the-nation primary.
McCain, who in earlier debates tended to use humor to make his mark, last night frequently felt the heat of being one of the front-runners. At one point, apparently trying to recover from an earlier, stilted response about his views against abortion, he rebuked Keyes for questioning his commitment.
Alluding to his Vietnam service, McCain said, ''I've seen enough killing in my life ... I don't need a lecture from you.''
''I didn't lecture you,'' Keyes said.
''Next time, use decaf,'' McCain responded testily.
Bush was also asked to address an abortion question. If he could write a two-sentence amendment to the constitution to cover the abortion issue, what would it say?
''It would be that every child, born and unborn, should be protected in law. And every child should be welcomed in life,'' Bush replied.
But it was the Bush and McCain point-counterpoint that seemed most telling.
Bush, on couple of occasions, sought to link McCain to Clinton administration positions. Referring to McCain's plan to cut taxes, he said, ''Al Gore would have written your plan, Mr. Senator.''
Then, when Bush again, in passing, compared a McCain position on education to the Clinton administration's, McCain shot back, ''George, if you're saying that I'm like Al Gore, then you're spinning like Bill Clinton.''
McCain said Bush's plan would give control over certain local education spending to ''some nameless, faceless bureaucrat in Washington, D.C. They're the ones that tell the states they're not meeting the standards.
''I want the folks in my state to set the standards and tell them when they're meeting the standards. That's the critical part,'' McCain said.
''Well, that's what my plan does, John,'' Bush responded.
''No, you have the federal bureaucracy make it,'' McCain said.
''No, I beg your pardon, I wrote the plan,'' Bush said.
Forbes, trying to overcome his image as a rather stilted, scripted figure, did something he doesn't usually do: he talked about himself and his broad political vision.
''My grandfather was a penniless immigrant, as tens of millions of other Americans were,'' said Forbes, not mentioning that his grandfather and father built a publishing empire that left him a multimillionaire. ''What brings us together is not a single ancestry or religion or a common race. What unites us is a shared set of ideas and ideals: the belief in freedom and liberty, democracy, individual equality before the law, opportunity. That's what makes us unique, and that's what we need to get back to.''
Forbes also pointedly renewed his critique of Bush's record as Texas governor, saying he had exaggerated his claim to have cut taxes, improved public education, and streamlined government in his home state.
''So many half-stories, so little time,'' Bush snapped, then offered a detailed self-defense.
The debate also had its share of odd moments.
In the most unlikely exchange of the evening, Bauer suggested that Keyes had demeaned the dignity of presidential candidates by being bounced by supporters in an impromptu ''mosh pit'' following an appearance in Des Moines last Sunday.
Bauer also objected to what he considered Keyes's tolerance of the music of an alternative rock group, which he identified as ''The Machine Rages On,'' whose recording was played during the incident.
''Rage Against the Machine'' is the name of the group, and Keyes said he knew nothing about the music.
''Accusing me of having complicity in the music is like asking me to apologize for the color of my skin,'' Keyes said.
Taking part in the mosh pit routine, a standard at rock concerts where people are pitched into the air by a human trampoline, was a metaphor for his trust in humanity, Keyes said.
''They will in fact hold you up,'' Keyes said.
The candidates also spent some time sparring over a pressing regional issue, how to stem the rise of heating oil prices. Bush, a former oilman, was asked whether he would be willing to draw upon the nation's strategic oil reserves to increase the supply. Bush said he would not do so. He said the president should ''jawbone'' the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cartel to drive down prices.
''It's important not only to explain what high energy prices do to our economy, but to the world economy,'' he said.
All five candidates agreed that President Clinton committed a felony in the Monica Lewinsky case and should have been removed from office. Bauer faulted Clinton for discussing the crisis in Bosnia on the telephone with a member of Congress ''while in the middle of a disgusting act.'' Keyes complained that Congress ''lacked the guts'' to impeach the president.
Both Keyes and Bauer accused Forbes of avoiding their questions on the World Trade Organization and China's most-favored nation trade status.
Bauer, whose support is mired in the low single digits in recent New Hampshire polls and who finished a disappointing fourth in Iowa, responded indignantly when asked by CNN anchorman Bernard Shaw when and whether he would drop out of the race.
''You think that a worker here in New Hampshire that's not making enough money to get health insurance, or a mother here who sends her child off to school worried about whether there's going to be a school shooting, or a law-abiding citizen of this state that sees these liberal judges trying to change the law so that men can marry men and women can marry women, do you think they're worried about whether Gary Bauer is going to drop out, stay in or whatever?'' Bauer said.
Bauer also went on the attack against Forbes, saying the publisher has not taken a strong stand on revoking the trade status for China, which Bauer said he would rescind immediately upon becoming president.
''I believe that we must let the Chinese know what the rules of engagement are,'' Forbes said.
''If they want a prosperous relationship, they can have it. But you have to lay down the rules, because then if they break those rules, then you can take a course of action and unite this country and unite our allies.''
Keyes, who in Iowa dwelled on his anti-abortion stand, last night was asked about his little-publicized proposal to replace the current tax code with a 23 percent sales tax.
He said that under his plan, those ''who feel that they cannot bear the burden of the income tax would be able by following that frugality track'' to avoid paying the sales tax.
