Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Ralph Reed | Credit: Gage Skidmore - Flickr

Before the hopefuls for the Republican presidential nomination clashed in a debate Thursday night, seven spoke to the crowd at an event hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a social conservative organization led by Ralph Reed. The event kicked off the Republican Party of Florida’s Presidency 5 event in Orlando by taking aim at President Barack Obama.

“This weekend is the beginning of the end of the Obama presidency,” Reed told a cheering crowd.

Reed attacked Obama on economics and foreign policy and pointed to a Quinnipiac University poll that found the president upside down in the Sunshine State -- and argued that this would haunt him in 2012.

“As Florida has gone, so has the nation,” Reed said, pointing to recent presidential and congressional elections in the Sunshine State. “What we do in Florida will determine the direction of this country.”

Reed said that his organization would contact 1.5 million Floridians between seven and 12 times to help defeat Obama in the Sunshine State in 2012.

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota was the first of the contenders to speak. Despite winning the Iowa Republican Straw Poll in Ames last month, Bachmann is downplaying the straw poll for Presidency 5.

Bachmann drew cheers by noting that social and religious conservatives were determined to defeat Obama in 2012.

“It’s going to happen,” she said. “We are going to take the country back.”

The Minnesota congresswoman praised the family and the importance of religion in the public square. Quoting Pilgrim leader John Witherspoon and conservative icon Ronald Reagan, Bachmann insisted, “We will once again be that shining city on the hill.”

Pointing to her history of winning elections as a conservative in generally liberal Minnesota, Bachmann told the crowd about her record at the state and national levels in fighting for traditional marriage and against abortion.

Next up was former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, who has largely ignored the RPOF straw poll. Romney and his wife addressed the crowd.

Romney started off by taking aim at Obama’s record on the economy.

“The president took the reins of the nation and has failed miserably ... in getting Americans back to work,” Romney said. “I will rebuild America’s economy and make sure America’s future is brighter than its past.”

The former governor pointed to his “life in the private sector” and contrasted that with “plenty of politicians” running for the presidency -- a shot at Gov. Rick Perry of Texas who, since entering the race on Aug. 13, has brushed Romney aside to lead national polls.

Romney touched on “the decline of values” and pointed to rising illegitimacy rates, international affairs and government spending as “the problems -- inexcusable in some cases.”

Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania then spoke on the role of faith in the public square. Insisting that the Founding Fathers incorporated God-granted rights as one of the cornerstones in creating America, Santorum, an opponent of abortion, reminded the crowd about the “right to life.”