As expected, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney took the brunt of the attention from the other candidates.

Romney stated that he absolutely stood by his decision to enact health care legislation while governor of Massachusetts, but was clear that should he be elected president he would order the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue waivers to all 50 states.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry agreed with Romney that health care legislation is a state issue and not a federal one, but he said he did not believe Romney’s legislation was the right call for the New England state.

 Rep. Michele Bachmann took a harder line.  Bachmann implied that Romney violated the U.S. Constitution by implementing health legislation in Massachusetts.  “No state has the constitutional right as a condition of citizenship to buy a product against their will,” Bachmann said.

The debate is airing on CNN.

Neon Tommy is live-tweeting the debate.