WASHINGTON – Republican presidential hopefuls warned in near unanimity against deep cuts in the nation’s defense budget Tuesday night, criticizing President Barack Obama in the campaign debate but disagreeing over the extent of reductions the Pentagon should absorb as part of an effort to reduce deficits and repair the frail economy.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said nearly $1 trillion in cuts are on the horizon for the Pentagon over the next decade, noting it was the same amount as costs for the nation’s new health care law. He blamed Obama for that, adding, “We need to protect America, and protect our troops and our military, and stop the idea of Obamacare.”

Texas Gov. Rick Perry was harshly critical of the magnitude of potential cuts, saying the Obama administration’s Pentagon chief, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, had called them irresponsible. “If he’s a man of honor, he should resign in protest,” Perry said.

Neither man specified if they support any cuts in the Pentagon’s accounts, but former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Jon Huntsman, one-time ambassador to China, both indicated the topic should be on the table as budget-cutters look for savings. “It’s clear that there are some things you can do to defense that are less expensive,” Gingrich said.

Only Rep. Ron Paul of Texas sounded unperturbed, saying despite ominous talk, lawmakers are considering only reductions in future military growth, not actual cuts. In a race constantly in flux, the former House speaker has recently emerged as Romney’s principal rival atop the public opinion polls. As he looked around him, he saw other rivals who once held that position – Bachmann, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and businessman Herman Cain among them.

They and the other GOP would-be commanders-in-chief made their points in a national security debate a mere six weeks before the Iowa caucuses begin the formal competition for delegates to next summer’s National Republican Convention. The venerable Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall was the site – a few blocks from the White House and as close as most, if not all, of the GOP hopefuls are likely to get.

The debate ranged widely, moving from Iran’s threat to develop a nuclear weapon to the anti-terror Patriot Act, the war in Afghanistan, U.S-Pakistan relations and the nation’s southwest border and the illegal immigrants who have crossed it.

Yet neither the format nor the moderator permitted all eight candidates to answer any one question, producing a somewhat disjoined event in which there was relatively little back-and-forth among the rivals.