Republican presidential hopefuls (L-R) former US Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), US Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN), former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Newt Gingrich (R-GA), former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, US Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain at the first New Hampshire debate of the 2012 campaign in Manchester, New Hampshire June 13, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Republican White House contenders focused their attacks on President Barack Obama and refrained from attacking each other on Monday in their first major debate of the 2012 nominating race.

The seven Republican hopefuls criticized Obama as a failure on the economy and knocked his healthcare reform as a gross government intrusion, but sidestepped numerous chances to hit their party rivals in the face-to-face encounter.

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"This president has failed, and he's failed at a time when the American people counted on him to create jobs and get the economy growing," said former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who leads the Republican pack in opinion polls.

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who on Sunday took a swipe at Romney's Massachusetts healthcare plan and called it "Obamneycare," carefully avoided a direct challenge to Romney as the contenders played nice with each other.

Romney defended the plan, a precursor to Obama's 2010 healthcare overhaul law that has become a lightning rod for conservative critics, and said it was different in part because it did not raise taxes and was state-based.

"If people don't like it in our state, they can change it. That's the nature of why states are the right place for this type of responsibility," Romney said.

Obama leads most opinion polls against potential Republican challengers in 2012, but his position has begun to slip in recent weeks as the US economy struggles to recover.

The nationally televised forum in New Hampshire included most of the top-tier contenders for the Republican presidential nomination - a battle for the right to challenge Obama, a Democrat. New Hampshire holds an important early contest on the road to the Republican nomination.

"Any one of the people on this stage would be a better president than President Obama," Romney said.