BUSH TARGETED BY RIVALS AS HE MAKES HIS DEBATE DEBUT.

Byline: Walter R. Mears Associated Press 

In his debate debut, Gov. George W. Bush drew fire Thursday night from his pursuers for the Republican presidential nomination, challenged on Social Security, abortion and tax cuts. The front-runner stressed his record as governor of Texas, and said, ``I'm a uniter, not a divider.''

Bush also returned criticism at one point, claiming that rival Steve Forbes had once proposed raising the age of eligibility for Social Security.

Strikingly, Bush and his closest challenger, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, treated one another gently - even favorably - throughout the 90-minute encounter.

Asked why Bush had won the backing of numerous GOP senators, McCain said ``that's testimony to the attractiveness'' of the front-runner.

Bush, for his part, said unprompted that McCain was ``a good man. I don't know what compelled me to say that about you,'' he added - and the two men shared a laugh on stage.

The GOP presidential field - Bush, Forbes, Sen. Orrin Hatch, Gary Bauer, McCain and Alan Keyes, stood behind identical podiums in a television studio at WMUR in Manchester, N.H. The Granite State will cast the first ballots of the presidential primary campaign on Feb. 1, and the event marked a quickening of the campaign. Two other debates are set for the next couple of weeks, one in Iowa on Dec. 13 and the other in Arizona on Monday.

Under the evening's format, the candidates were questioned by two reporters. The subjects ranged from Social Security to abortion to foreign policy to a question to Bush about Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his weapons stockpile. He said he would ``take out the weapons of mass destruction.''

The future of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan also came up. Asked whether he would give him a new term as central banker, Forbes said, ``I would have a heart to heart with him, to see if he truly buys into that crazy theory that prosperity causes inflation.''

Separately, McCain expressed concern that the stock market rise was a bubble that might burst. ``I'm afraid it's coming to that,'' he said, and then said he had confidence in Greenspan.

Bush skipped earlier debates among the contenders, and had once hoped to avoid sharing a stage with his rivals until the dawn of the election year. His campaign reversed course, though, after McCain began chewing up lead in the polls in New Hampshire.

Bush was peppered with criticism throughout the evening, and used his own time at the microphone to stress his record as governor of Texas. ``I know how to lead,'' he said.

Several of the contenders as well as their seconds trooped to a room full of reporters in the moments following their debate, to offer their own postmortems. The Forbes campaign used the moment to brandish an editorial endorsement to be published Friday in the Manchester Union Leader, a conservative paper that has figured prominently in previous campaigns.

In the endorsement, the paper said Forbes is ``one tough customer, who can be the strong, principled leader America needs.'' The paper conceded, though, that he is ``not charismatic.''

Keyes, Forbes, Bauer and Hatch all criticized Bush's recently announced tax cut plan, and Bush had a ready rejoinder. ``Some critics say his tax cut is too big, while others say it's not big enough, he said. ``Which leads me to believe I may be doing something just right.''

Bauer challenged Bush to join him in pledging that his vice presidential running mate ``will be pro-life. Mine will be. I hope tonight that Governor Bush will clarify and finally agree . . . that his will be,'' the former White House aide said.

A few minutes later, Hatch said he had made his campaign contributions available on his political Web site as soon as they were received. In an aside to Bush, he said, ``it's pretty tough to use yours.''

Forbes charged that Bush would raise the Social Security retirement age.

Then, asked a question about the future of Social Security, Bush read from a written document that said ``those now in their 20s would not be eligible until 67 or 68'' for their benefits. The author of those words, he said, was Forbes, who retorted that he wrote it more than 20 years ago.

McCain, who is Bush's closest pursuer in the Granite State polls, steered well clear of criticism of the Texas governor.

He himself was asked about a potential campaign weakness, reports that he has a ferocious temper that might interfere with his ability to serve as president.

``A comment like that really makes me mad,'' he quipped, and broke into a big grin. He said he feels passionately about issues, and conceded that sometimes ``I get angry.''

Hatch, who serves with McCain in the Senate, said his colleague ``is a passionate person and he does have a temper and sometimes it's awful to be on the wrong side of it.''

The Republicans had met three times before, in forums Bush skipped, before his campaign soundings showed that his absence was denting his standing.

McCain, campaigning in North Hampton before the debate, said a Bush tax cut plan seemed based on ``a bit of a rosy scenario'' for economic growth. Forbes called it timid tinkering. Bauer said Bush ``blinked and the tax code won.''

Bush strategists said the argument over his tax plan was fine with them, since it put the front-runner's program atop the agenda and because he was primed to deal with the critics.