The candidates were asked to put aside prepared campaign slogans
The candidates are jockeying for position in the nomination race, mainly against front-runner Mitt Romney.
Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty traded barbs, and others touted their experience as governors.
Meanwhile on Thursday, Texas Governor Rick Perry said he would join the 2012 nomination race.
Mr Perry was expected to announce his candidacy in South
Carolina on Saturday, reports said. A spokesman said Mr Perry would make
his intentions "very clear".
The news came hours before the eight Republican rivals began
the third debate of the 2012 race, days before most of his rivals take
part in the Iowa straw poll in Ames.
The candidates hope to win the Republican nomination to face President Barack Obama in the November 2012 general election.
The Republican field has been slow to take shape this year,
although the first balloting will not be held until February in Iowa.
Challenges
In Iowa, Ms Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman and others
are facing a key test of their ability to emerge as Mr Romney's chief
challenger, analysts say.
Mitt Romney, right, has thus far declined to engage his rivals for the nomination on the campaign trail
As the debate began, the candidates offered a round of standard
Republican calls for lower taxes and repeal of Mr Obama's "Obamacare"
healthcare reform law of 2010.
Mr Romney, a former financier and Massachusetts governor,
touted his experience in the private sector but was forced to defend his
record as governor over similarities between his healthcare policy in
Massachusetts and Mr Obama's 2010 law.
Mr Huntsman touted his record as governor of Utah, Mr
Pawlenty his record of financial management as Minnesota governor and Ms
Bachmann - a Minnesota congresswoman - her opposition to the Democratic
legislative agenda.
Mr Romney, who failed in his 2008 bid for the Republican nomination, leads the current pack in polling and fundraising.
Much of the early debate centred on exchanges of attacks
between Mr Pawlenty and Ms Bachmann, who are vying to pull to the front
of the pack and take on Mr Romney.
Mr Pawlenty repeatedly criticised Ms Bachmann's lack of
substantive success in enacting a legislative agenda, and accused her of
"making false statements".
"She speaks of leading these efforts in Washington and Minnesota," he said. "Leading and failing is not the objective."
Ms Bachmann, meanwhile, said she opposed a law passed last week that raised America's debt limit.
In addition, pizza restaurant magnate Herman Cain said
Islamic "sharia law" should never be recognised in US courts and on
immigration, said "America can be a nation of high fences and wide open
doors."
Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum called for a 0% tax
on manufacturing, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich attacked "Mickey
Mouse questions" from the news media on reports of staff defections in
his campaign, and Ms Bachmann said Americans should be allowed to
purchase whatever lightbulbs they wanted.
Ms Bachmann was seen as a favourite among the social conservative voters who are influential in the Iowa Republican electorate.
She has earned a name for herself for her fiery conservative
rhetoric, though at the last debate in June she impressed with her calm
and steady demeanour.
Analysts say her challenge will be to meet the high bar she
has set for herself and to continue to show she has a substantive
command of policy.
And she may face questions about recent reports a counselling
centre her husband runs received government aid and engaged in therapy
practices aimed at turning homosexuals into heterosexuals.
Straw poll
Mr Huntsman, former Utah Governor and ambassador to China
under Mr Obama, has thus far failed to live up to the excitement his
entrance into the race generated.
Known as a political moderate, he has pledged to run a civil
campaign. Analysts say he needs a breakout performance on Thursday to
re-engage his fundraising and support network.
Likewise, Mr Pawlenty, the former Minnesota Governor, needs
to regain standing lost since he failed to challenge Mr Romney on
healthcare policy during the last debate.
The Ames debate comes two days before an early non-binding "straw poll" contest at the Iowa state fair.
The poll is seen as an early test of support, fundraising and organising prowess.
Among major candidates who have formally entered the race, Mr Romney and Mr Huntsman are not competing in the straw poll.
Also, former Alaska Governor and 2008 Republican
vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who has flirted with a candidacy
but has not entered the race, has announced a bus tour of the state
beginning on Friday.
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