Eight of 10 declared Republican presidential hopefuls descended on Dartmouth College yesterday to outline their fiscal policies in the economy-centric debate. The second New Hampshire debate, sponsored by Dartmouth, The Washington Post, Bloomberg News and local news outlet WBIN-TV, featured a seated roundtable discussion largely dominated by a collected former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., with spirited interjections from businessman Herman Cain, who is rising as a serious contender in GOP polls.

Romney, who currently leads the polls, presented himself as the most likely candidate to beat President Barack Obama in the general election, and continued to tout his experience in the private sector as a beneficial background for a leader who will need to pull the country out of an economic recession. Romney — whom conservative leader Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., endorsed just hours before the debate — held firm on previously controversial statements on China and his health care vision for the state of Massachusetts. His opponents recognized his frontrunner status, purposefully singling Romney out during the portion of the debate in which they were able to direct questions at each other. Five candidates centered their questions on Romney, as Cain challenged his 59-point economic plan. Romney quickly outlined seven “pillars” leading to economic recovery, which include amending tax policy and establishing “human capital” institutions.

Cain rode on the wave of his recent surge in popularity, fielding several attacks from his opponents on his 9-9-9 tax plan. Seated between strong contenders Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, and Romney, Cain insisted that his plan — one of the few defined economic proposals put forth by any of the candidates — will restore life to the struggling economy.

“I propose a bold plan to fix the economy, starting with the 9-9-9 plan, to bring down the debt and make sure that revenues equal spending,” Cain said of his plan, which would wipe out the tax code and institute a nationwide 9 percent business tax, 9 percent flat tax and 9 percent national sales tax.

“At the same time, we have to be serious about not creating annual deficits.”

The night began with a pleasant atmosphere and the candidates — seated around what moderator Charlie Rose called “a kitchen table” — were generous in giving nods to each other’s proposals. Comments gradually turned harsh as the debate proceeded, with candidates focusing attacks on Cain’s 9-9-9 plan, which was mentioned so often that it became a tag line.

Cain, the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO, endured jabs from both Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and former Gov. Jon Huntsman, R-Utah, who said that he at first believed the “9-9-9” phrase to be a pizza discount. Bachmann used snark to attempt to discredit her opponent’s plan, but did not put forth a proposal of her own.

“When you take the 9-9-9 plan and turn it upside down, the devil’s in the details,” Bachmann said.

Bachmann also criticized Cain’s plan for failing to address unemployment.

“It isn’t a jobs plan, it’s a tax plan,” Bachmann said. “The last thing you would do is give Congress a pipeline of revenue stream.”

In an unsteady opening address, Perry focused largely on strengthening the energy industry, despite the debate’s focus on the economy. Perry has suffered from his poor performances in previous debates, and Tuesday’s debate had largely been viewed by politicos as his opportunity to rebound and prove his ability as a presidential candidate.

Bachmann and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., cited the federal government as the root of the economic meltdown, blaming large government for lowering lending standards and pushing down mortgage values.

“Let’s be clear who put the fix in, let’s look at the politicians who created the environment and who put this country in trouble,” Gingrich said, to one of the few rounds of applause that audience members offered candidates all evening. “I’m going after politicians who have been at the heart of the sickness.”

Although candidates agreed that jobs could bounce back with the right climate, many of the candidates failed to articulate a specific economic plan when pressed by the moderators, instead repeatedly assuring the audience that their plan will pass through Congress.

“The cool thing about mine is that it’ll pass tomorrow,” former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn., said about his own stimulus package. “It’ll pass immediately. It’s not just proposing plans, it’s about a plan that will bring people together.”

Romney, however, provided contradicting arguments when asked how he would respond to the 2008 bailout. He first said he was “not interested in bailing out individual institutions that are interested in saving their own shares,” yet later added that “we were on the precipice and we could have had a complete meltdown, so action had to be taken.” Romney avoided answering a hypothetical question regarding the potential for a European market meltdown in 2013 posed by one of the debate’s moderators, chief White House correspondent for Bloomberg News Julianna Goldman.

Throughout the debate, Bachmann claimed she had been the only candidate to oppose the debt ceiling hike from the start, explaining she was “the lone voice saying, ‘Do not raise the debt ceiling.’”

The candidates were united in slamming Obama for his failure as the nation’s leader.

“Three years ago we selected someone who had no leadership experience,” Romney said. “Since then he’s divided the nation and tried to blame other people.”

Perry also blamed Obama for helping to spread the large wealth disparity among Americans.

“The reason why we have that many people living in poverty is because we have a president of the United States who is a job killer,” Perry said. “This president is the biggest deterrent to getting the country back on track.”

The candidates were similarly unrelenting in their promise to repeal Obamacare, an attack that has proved especially targeted at Romney and the health care legislation he enacted while governor of Massachusetts. Romney neatly deflected concerns that his health care plan was similar to that of Obama’s, and instead highlighted their differences as a state’s rights issue. Instead of hefting back a loaded retort, Romney emphasized the relatively small target of his work.

“We dealt with the 8 percent [of Massachusetts] that didn’t have insurance, not 92 percent,” Romney said. “But Obamacare takes over the health care of everyone.”

Instead of constantly looking to counterattack, Romney continuously referred back to his political and economic background in his responses.

“With the American people in the kind of crisis they’re in, they need someone who can get the jobs, and I know — I’ve done it,” Romney said.

In response to Gingrich’s criticism that Romney will lower the benchmark for tax cut eligibility, Romney said he wanted to direct aid to the middle class.

“It’s to give a tax break to middle-income Americans,” Romney said. “The poor have a safety net, they’re taken care of. I want to focus on the middle class.”

All candidates, however, pointed fingers when the moderators asked the candidates who they believed was the most successful Federal Reserve chairman. Cain’s decision to choose former Chairman Alan Greenspan prompted head-shaking from Paul and grins from Santorum.

“Alan Greenspan was a disaster,” Paul countered. “He kept interest rates too long, too long. Greenspan has ushered in the biggest bubble [of inflation], and Bernanke compounds the problem.”

The candidates also sparred when the debate turned to trade policies, although all eight unanimously identified China as the largest threat to American trade.

“We’re being played like a fiddle by the Chinese,” Romney said. “We’re being hollowed out by China, where people have pursued unfair trade practices, and on day one I will issue an executive order identifying China as a manipulating creditor. We have to stand up to China or we will be run over.”

Although the debate itself lack many heated arguments and interruptions — save from a few witty and impassioned remarks from Cain ­— Santorum provoked expletives from one audience member when he said that one of the nation’s biggest problems is the breakdown of the American family.

“We need to talk about the home, we need to have policies that encourage families and marriage,” Santorum said. “We can’t have government that breaks down families.”

Despite having focused largely on their economic background throughout the debate, several candidates sought to appeal to the common American in the evening’s final moments.

“I can connect with people’s pain because I was po’ before I was poor,” Cain said.

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said in an interview with The Dartmouth after the debate that she found the debate “not surprising and incredibly disappointing.”

Washington Post political correspondent Karen Tumulty co-moderated.