During Republican debate, Thompson ad goes after Romney on abortion

Via CNN:

Fred Thompson aired the first negative television ad in the 2008 Republican presidential campaign race, using the CNN/YouTube debate Wednesday to deliver a double broadside against Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.

With five weeks remaining before the Iowa caucuses, Thompson's video took aim at Romney for changing his position on abortion rights and Huckabee for his past statements on taxes.

Each of the eight GOP candidates was allowed to air a 30-second, YouTube-style campaign commercial during the two-hour debate....

Thompson's video showed Romney talking about his support for Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, during his failed 1994 Senate bid....

"What were some saying during the Republican Revolution" flashed on the screen as viewers watched a clip of Romney saying: "I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years that we should sustain and support it."

Here's Romney's response to the ad:

Romney: I'm not sure who that young guy was at the beginning of that film, but I can tell you this, which is, I don't know how many times I can tell it. I was wrong. All right. I was effectively pro- choice when I ran for office.

(Applause)

If people in this country are looking for someone who's never made a mistake on a policy issue and is not willing to admit they're ever wrong, why then they're going to have to find somebody else, because on abortion I was wrong.

(Applause)

And I changed my mind as the governor. This didn't just happen the last couple of weeks or the last year. This happened when I was governor the first time a bill came to my desk that related to life. I could not sign a bill that would take away human life. I came down on the side of life every single instance as governor of Massachusetts. I was awarded by the Massachusetts Citizens for Life with their leadership award for my record.

I'm proud to be pro-life, and I'm not going to be apologizing for people for becoming pro-life.

Read the full transcript of the CNN-YouTube debate.