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[Michele Bachmann DROPPED OUT] A seeming knack for misstatement. She misspoke about John Wayne's Iowa birthplace and Lexington and Concord. She cited false reports that an Obama trip to India was costing $200 million a day. She implied the 1970s swine flu was Democrats' fault and misplaced the timing as during the Carter presidency rather than Ford's. [Newt Gingrich] Social conservatives balk at his checkered personal life, which includes admitted extramarital affairs, including one as he pushed the Clinton impeachment over the Monica Lewinsky affair. Ethical clouds surrounding a book advance and the financing of a college course he taught led to a House reprimand in 1997. He resigned the next year. Critics, including some Republicans who worked alongside him, see him as a chaotic headline-grabber prone to engaging his mouth and putting his foot in it. [Ron Paul] Ardent Libertarianism (says he was a fan of gutting government long before the Tea Party seized on the idea). Even some fellow Republicans call his candidacy a joke or, more charitably, merely a platform for his ideas. Age? He'd take office at 77, eight years older than Ronald Reagan when he started his presidency. [Rick Perry DROPPED OUT] Though he dismisses the comparison, some say that after eight Bush years, the country isn't ready for another folksy, hard-charging Texan with a record heavy on verbal stumbles and light on foreign policy experience. The questions persisted after a debate this fall in which he couldn't recall one of three federal departments he wants to abolish. [Mitt Romney] A reputation for flip-flops, such as on health care and the military's policy on gays. He disputes the accusation, except on the issue of abortion: Once a supporter of Roe v. Wade, he now says it should be overturned, a change of heart he says took place in 2004 during a debate over embryonic stem cell research. Some call him a robo-multimillionaire out of touch with working Joes, noting his offer to bet a fellow candidate $10,000 over a disputed point. [Rick Santorum DROPPED OUT] What he himself calls "his Google problem." In 2003, gays offended by his stands launched an online campaign to turn his name into an offensive word. Web searches thus produce references to anal sex. Once insisted, even after the Pentagon acknowledged otherwise, that the Iraq War had uncovered weapons of mass destruction. Also explained the war's purpose in "Lord of the Rings" terms, saying: "As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else. It's being drawn to Iraq and it's not being drawn to the U.S." [0] 
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2012 Republican presidential candidate bios - Omaha.com interactive documents
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