Republicans Debate in Des Moines

Teen Pregnancy
Romney also said federal programs to combat teen pregnancy are "obviously not working real well." Actually, the teenage birth rate declined consistently from 1991 to 2005, dropping 45 percent for 15- to 17-year-olds, 26 percent for 18- to 19-year-olds and 34 percent for 15- to 19-year-olds. It's true that the most recent report shows the birth rates for these age groups increased in 2006, but the change was small: a 3 percent increase for 15- to 17-year-olds and for 15- to 19-year-olds, and a 4 percent increase for 18- to 19-year-olds. There was a 14 percent decrease for 10- to 14-year-olds.

Magic Tax Cuts
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani repeated a fantastic claim that a big tax cut would produce more revenue, not less.

Giuliani: And then we have to reduce taxes. Right now we should reduce the corporate tax. We should reduce it from 35 percent to 25 percent. It would be a major boost in revenues for the government.

He's certainly not the only Republican politician to state this view. We've criticized John McCain for a similar claim. But you won't find many economists, Democrat or Republican, who subscribe to it. George H.W. Bush famously called this view "voodoo economics" while campaigning for the Republican nomination in 1980.

Economists agree that lower taxes tend to produce higher economic growth, which does produce additional tax revenue – but not enough to pay for what's lost. N. Gregory Mankiw, who was the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under George W. Bush, published a paper last year in which he calculated that over a number of years, capital gains tax cuts generate enough growth to pay for maybe half of the lost revenue. Cuts in taxes on wages would bring enough revenue to pay for about 17 percent of revenue lost.

Who's "Most Impressive" on Education?
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee claimed to have the most impressive record on education, a point Romney disputed, claiming credit for himself: