Gloves off at Iowa candidate debate

Donald Trump. Photo / AP

It was billed as an early dress rehearsal for the Republican presidential nomination fight.

And if the gathering of 20 potential candidates in Iowa offered any clues, then the 2016 contest promises to be a riotous affair. During nearly nine hours of speeches, leading conservatives queued up to bemoan the fallen state of America while taking potshots at President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and each other.

"You can't have Romney - he choked," said Donald Trump, the billionaire, who drew spontaneous cheers from an audience of more than 1000 activists in Des Moines, Iowa, the state where the race kicks off in under a year. Although Trump is not a serious candidate for President, his remark revealed the depth of feeling among the conservative grassroots against candidates such as Mitt Romney, who is contemplating a third run at the job.

"You can't have Bush, the last thing we need is another Bush," added Trump. All the speakers, including Ted Cruz, the Tea Party darling from Texas, Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas Governor-turned-television host, and Chris Christie, the New Jersey Governor, shared an apocalyptic vision of "Obama's America".

Although polls show rising satisfaction with living standards, the candidates warned of an America that had lost its religion and its way, suffocating under the weight of debt, taxes, immigration and a liberal media bias. "We look at what's happening in this county and we fear for our children, and our grandchildren," Cruz said.

Obama was roundly mocked for suggesting in his State of the Union that the greatest threat facing America was not the rise of Isis (Islamic State), but climate change. "Mr President, I would have thought that a beheading is a far greater threat to an American than a sunburn," said Huckabee to thunderous applause.