DES MOINES – Newt Gingrich offered a robust defense of his views on the Middle East, his lucrative work after leaving Congress and his conservative credentials during a spirited debate here Saturday as his Republican presidential rivals urged voters to take a hard look at his candidacy.

With only three weeks remaining before the Iowa caucuses open the Republican nominating contest, Mitt Romney raised questions about Gingrich's temperament, saying that in claiming in a recent interview that the Palestinians were an "invented people," Gingrich had thrown "incendiary words into a place which is a boiling pot."

Gingrich took fire for most of the evening, at many points seeming to relish his new role as the leading Republican candidate in the field. He delivered several attacks of his own, particularly against Romney.

But when the question of his two divorces and acknowledged extramarital affairs were implicitly raised, Gingrich, answering after his opponents had made a point of highlighting their long marriages, conceded that voters would need to make up their own minds.

"I think people have to render judgment," Gingrich said. "In my case, I said up front openly, I've made mistakes at times. I've had to go to God for forgiveness. I've had to seek reconciliation."

As Gingrich and Romney sparred, the rest of the Republican field took aim at both of the men. Rep. Michele Bachmann lumped them together as "Newt Romney," saying both of them had supported a key aspect of President Barack Obama's health care law, a mandate that all individuals purchase health insurance.

The debate was the first opportunity for Romney and Gingrich to stand side by side since their rivalry has intensified. While Gingrich had pledged to take the high road, urging Republicans not to tear one another down, he called Romney out for presenting himself as a businessman aloof from politics.

"The only reason you didn't become a career politician is that you lost to Teddy Kennedy in 1994," Gingrich said, referring to Romney's failed campaign for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts.

But Gingrich turned red-faced when Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who is gaining ground in polls here, accused him of being an inconsistent conservative.

"He received a lot of money from Freddie Mac," Paul said, referring to a recent report in Bloomberg News that Gingrich had received up to $1.8 million in consulting fees from the government-sponsored mortgage lender. "By the way, Newt, you probably got some of our taxpayer money." He added, "You were a spokesman for them and you received money from them."

Gingrich repeated his defense that he never acted as a lobbyist for Freddie Mac, adding, "I offered strategic advice – I was in the private sector." At that point, Romney chimed in, laughing loudly, "K Street is not the private sector!"

But during another point, Romney drew attention to his own wealth when he leaned over to Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and offered to place a $10,000 bet on whether Romney had changed his position on health care between editions of his book.

"I'm not in the betting business," Perry said.

On one of the sharpest exchanges of the night, Gingrich stood his ground and said he was describing the Palestinian liberation movement as a historian, and that as a "Reaganite," he was proud to speak his mind. Gingrich had told a Jewish television channel last week that Palestinians historically were an "invented" people and that the Palestinian leadership sought to destroy Israel.

Romney, however, drawing an implicit contrast with Gingrich, said, "I'm not a bomb thrower – rhetorically or literally."

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