Dec. 12 Republican debate transcript

Washburn: Let's hear free statements from two more candidates. First, Congressman Tancredo and, then, Governor Huckabee.

Tancredo: We have had 40 years of unlimited -- 45 years, really, of unlimited immigration, both legal and illegal, into this country. It has become -- that is a problem. Unlimited, massive immigration is a problem.

But when it happens commensurately without the same amount of assimilation it becomes a catastrophe.

We will become what Teddy Roosevelt warned of. And he said you can have immigration but if it happens without assimilation all you end up with is a -- not a nation but a polyglot boarding house.

Some of my friends on the stage, both governors and senators, said they -- we should trust their judgment.

Tancredo: Well, their judgment is what got us into this problem. So we need to trust somebody else to get us out.

Washburn: Governor Huckabee?

Huckabee: I think people in this country are looking for leadership. They're looking for change. They're not looking that people would be elected to be so much a ruling class but a servant class.

We've forgotten that. Our founding fathers had a brilliant, really revolutionary idea that the people elected would not represent the elite, but would represent the ordinary.

Our founding fathers had the idea that when we are elected, we're not elected as a part to be elevated up but to truly remember who it is we work for.

I think, sometimes, that's what's happened in America. We forget that our job is to keep this country safe, first and foremost. And it's to try to encourage Americans to be their best at everything they do.

And I can tell you that it's a long way from the little rent house I grew up in to this stage. I'm still in awe that this country would afford kids like me the opportunity to be a president. I'll try not to forget where I came from and where this country needs to go.

Washburn: Thank you.

A new topic that some Iowans say hasn't had enough debate during this campaign, and that's education.

American 15-year-olds ranked behind 16 other countries in a recent assessment of science literacy. What educational standards does the U.S. need to adopt or improve to compete in the global economy? And what will you do to move us toward those standards? And what's your timetable?

Senator McCain?

McCain: The answer to the problem in education in America is simple: We need more choice and more competition.

Entrance by a good student into college today, they have a number of choices, and people are seeking them, to be part of those educational institutions. We don't have the choice and competition we need in K through 12. We need more charter schools. We need vouchers where it's approved by the local, state school boards.

McCain: We need to have, clearly, home schooling if people want that. We need to -- we need to reward good teachers and find bad teachers another line of work.

We need to have all of these compete.

In my home state of Arizona, we have charter schools. Some have failed, but they're competing with the public schools, and the level of education is increasing.

In New York City today, there's some remarkable things happening under Mayor Bloomberg and Joel Klein, who have done marvelous work with an educational system that was clearly broken.

Those can be examples of a way to improve education in America, provide choice and competition, and give every American family the same choice I and my family had, and that is to send our child to the school of our choice.

Washburn: Thank you.

Mayor Giuliani?

Giuliani: I'm here because of the educational choices my parents made, or I wouldn't be here or have achieved anything that I've achieved.

And that's the place where the decision should be made.

Instead of having these education standards done in Washington by the Education Department or some bureaucrats in a state capital or on a board, the choice should be made by parents. Parents should choose the school that their child goes to, the same way people choose higher education.

Has it ever occurred to us that higher education is still the very, very best in the world, and you're asking me about K-12? Well, higher education is based on choice. It's based on a large consumer market. It's based on competition.

It's the area of K-12 where we have this government command, sort of, approach. And if we give the choice to parents, where they can choose a private school or parochial school or public school, a charter school, home schooling, let them be the decider, I think we'll see a big revolution in education.