MANCHESTER, N.H. Republican White House hopefuls condemned President Barack Obama&39;s handling of the economy from the opening moments of their first major debate of the campaign season Monday night,.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Republican White House hopefuls condemned President Barack Obama's handling of the economy from the opening moments of their first major debate of the campaign season Monday night, and pledged emphatically to repeal his historic year-old health care overhaul.

Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, invited as an unannounced contender for the 2012 nomination, upstaged her rivals for a moment, using a nationwide television audience to announce she had filed papers earlier in the day to run – a disclosure in keeping with a feisty style she has employed in a bid to become a favorite of tea party voters.

Obama was hundreds of miles away on a day in which he blended a pledge to help companies create jobs in North Carolina with a series of campaign fundraisers in Florida. He won the two states in 2008, and both figure to be battlegrounds in 2012.

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