RELATED COVERAGE McCain duels with Bush in Iowa debate Bush makes effort to show passion, intellectual heft Reaching for simple truths, GOP debaters overstep Excerpts from the debate THEIR INFLUENCES GOP presidential candidates name the philosopher or thinker who had the most influence on their lives, as asked during Monday night's debate. STEVE FORBES: John Locke and Thomas Jefferson ALAN KEYES: The Founding Fathers GEORGE W. BUSH: Jesus Christ ORRIN HATCH: Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and Jesus Christ JOHN McCAIN: Founding Fathers and Theodore Roosevelt GARY BAUER: Jesus Christ

Excerpts from Monday's debate in Des Moines, Iowa, among Republican presidential candidates Gary Bauer, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, Steve Forbes, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, Alan Keyes, and Sen. John McCain of Arizona, as transcribed by Federal Document Clearing House:

On gun laws:

BAUER: "A president -- let me just say one thing -- a president can do something about this. He can put judges on the court that understand that our liberty comes from God, that he's the author of it. And that only a virtuous people can remain free. And that ultimately will be a lot more important than passing another gun law."

BUSH: "I think the best accountability for somebody who breaks the law with a gun is called jail -- certain jail.

But I also know we need to have laws that keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them. I mean, that's why I'm for instant background checks. I think that's a system that when properly employed will work, and work well. And that's the kind of law and that's the kind of president I'm going to be if I win the vote."

FORBES: "You look at Palestinian textbooks today. They're full of vitriol about Jews, the Protocols of Zion -- stuff that we saw in Nazi Germany in the '30s ... So you cannot have peace preaching that kind of hatred. It's got to be both ways. The Israelis are willing to make an agreement, but Arafat is not willing to make the fundamental shift that's going to make a lasting peace possible. And as president, I'm not going to twist Israeli arms to get a false peace."

HATCH: "I think the president of the United States ought to set a moral tone in this country, and ought to do what's right. He ought to be a person of integrity and decency ... And I go to the movie industry, and I go the video tape industry, and I go the music industry, I'll have a moral power to talk to those people and say, "Look, let's get together. There's too much obscenity, pornography, violence, and crime in our society today, and it's about time you people started living up to your responsibilities as well."

KEYES: "That sense of individualism that also knows how to dedicate itself to the good of others, has been born and has been nurtured and has been sustained in America's family farming sector. We lose the family farm, and we lose the nursery of America's moral character. We can't afford that. And I think we therefore have a stake that goes beyond money. It goes beyond food. It is vital to the future of this country."

MCCAIN: "Ethanol is not worth it. It does not help the consumer. Those ethanol subsidies should be phased out. And everybody here on this stage, if it wasn't for the fact that Iowa is the first caucus state, would share my view that we don't need ethanol subsidies. It doesn't help anybody." R,P,7 -- AM-TEXT-EXCERPTS,1STADD A0777 12-13 0475 -- ,----- AM-Text-Excerpts, 1st Add, a0777,470 By The Associated Press On China and the WTO:

BAUER: "I will stop allowing China to play us for suckers. We've given them most favored nation status 10 years in a row. They dump their goods here. And Iowa farmers are selling less to China now than they did 10 years ago. The time of them playing us for suckers will end in my presidency ... Governor, here's your fallacy. You believe the Chinese government will keep their agreements. They haven't kept their agreements for 20 years."

BUSH: "Family farmers all across this state are wondering: How come we don't open more markets for my corn and my hogs? And that's exactly what I'm going to do as president; I'm going to open up markets.

I support ethanol, and I support ethanol strongly, John. And I'd have supported ethanol whether I was here in Iowa or not. I support ethanol because it's good for our air. It's good for the air, it's good for the quality of the air. It also reduces our dependency upon foreign oil.

FORBES: "I have compared the WTO, John, to a Woolly Mammoth without the charm. It is so big -- it is so big that this next round of negotiations that they wanted to kick off in Seattle -- the last one the Uruguay round, took 13 years ... I think we should take action on our own. And that's why I proposed, for example, doing a North Atlantic free trade agreement with Ireland and Britain, bringing on the Pacific side, Australia, New Zealand and other nations. Do it ourselves. We can't wait for the WTO. It's useless."

HATCH: "My only brother was killed in the Second World War. The most valuable thing I own is the flag that draped his coffin when they brought him back. I'm the author of the anti-flag desecration constitutional amendment. And what I want to do is get two-thirds of the Congress to pass that amendment, and then go out to those 50 states and create a debate on values like we've never had before. Will you join me?"

KEYES: "I guess I really do sometimes become impatient with the euphemisms that we use in this society. Because the truth of the matter is, my friends, we're not leaving unborn children behind, we are killing them. And we are killing them in total contravention of the most fundamental principle of this nation's life, that our rights come from God and not from human choice."

MCCAIN: "I agree with George Bush that China will absorb these exports. Every nation in the world should be open to our best products. The best and most productive farmer in the world is the farmer of Iowa. And the people in Beijing and Bangkok and Paris will be eating Iowa pork and they'll love every minute of it when I'm president of the United States."