The following is a rush transcript of the December 11, 2011, edition of "Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace." This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

CHRIS WALLACE, HOST: I'm Chris Wallace.

A former Republican frontrunner looks to Iowa to launch his campaign come back.

After early stumbles, presidential candidate Rick Perry tries to regain his footing in time for the caucuses. We continue our 2012 one-on-one series with the governor of Texas.

Then, where's the Christmas spirit on Capitol Hill? With the tax hike hanging in the balance, what will Congress do? We'll get the latest from Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

Plus, top Republican candidates go negative on Newt Gingrich. We'll ask our Sunday panel if the frontrunner can weather the political storm.

And our power player of the week help wounded warriors get home for Christmas.

All right now on "Fox News Sunday."

And hello, again, from Fox News in Washington.

With just over three weeks until the Iowa caucus. The Republican candidates for president came out swinging last night in a debate in Des Moines.

Fox News correspondent Steve Brown watched the action to see who scored and who missed -- Steve.

STEVE BROWN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Chris, there were plenty of attempts from last night's debate to knock down Newt Gingrich, the frontrunner, a peg or two. But those efforts came up short.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MITT ROMNEY, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can start with the idea to have a lunar colony to mine minerals from the moon. I'm not in favor of spending that kind of money to do that. He said that he would like to eliminate in some cases the child labor laws so that kids could clean schools. I don't agree with that idea.

So, we have differences of viewpoint on some issues.

NEWT GINGRICH, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The only reason you didn't become a career politician is you lost to Teddy Kennedy in 1984.

PERRY: Now, wait a second.

BROWN (voice-over): If a clean shot was delivered on Gingrich, it may have been by Ron Paul over Gingrich's consulting gig with Freddie Mac.

REP. RON PAUL, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: While he was earning a lot of money from Freddie Mac, I was fighting over a decade to try to explain to people where the housing people where the bubble was. So, Freddie Mac gets bailed out by the taxpayer. So, in a way, Newt, I think you probably got some of our taxpayer's money.

BROWN: Michele Bachmann fired this two for one jab at the center state candidates over their previous endorsements of individual mandates for health care.

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You just heard Newt/Romney is also with Obama on the issue of payroll extension. So, if you want a difference, Michele Bachmann is the proven conservative. It's not Newt/Romney.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You throw a lot out there.

BROWN: But, clearly, the talk about moment of the debate was this exchange between Rick Perry and Romney about individual mandates.

ROMNEY: You know what? You raised that before, Rick.

GOV. RICK PERRY, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It was true then. And it is true now.

ROMNEY: Rick, I tell you what, 10,000 bucks, $10,000 bet?

PERRY: I'm not in the betting business.

ROMNEY: OK.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: That wager is not playing well here in Iowa. Some observers suggesting it shows Romney is out of touch -- Chris.

WALLACE: Steve Brown reporting from Des Moines -- Steve, thanks for that.

Now to one of the presidential contenders that got a lot riding on Iowa, Texas Governor Rick Perry, who joins us from Des Moines.

And, Governor, welcome back to "Fox News Sunday."

PERRY: Good morning, Chris. Good to be with you.

WALLACE: I got to ask you what everybody is talking about. What did you think when Mitt Romney made or offered a $10,000 bet on something in his book?

PERRY: I was taken a little aback. I'm driving out to the station this morning. I'm sure I didn't drive by a house that anyone in Iowa would even think about that a $10,000 bet was possible. So, a little out of touch with the normal Iowa citizen.

But the issue of individual mandates is still at the center here and Mitt can deny this as many times as he wants, but in his first book, hard cover of "No Apologies," he clearly stated that individual mandates should be the model for this country and then he took that out of the book in the paperback. That's the fact. And even a 10,000 bet is not going to cover that.

WALLACE: Well, one of your big moments, and as you say, it came in this confrontation over the individual mandate. You criticized him for the mandate in Romneycare. He came back at you and said, you had an individual mandate in Texas to make sixth grade girls get the HPV vaccine. And he asked, what's the difference?

PERRY: Well, clearly, we had an opt-out in that executive order and the legislature said that they didn't like the way I had gone forward. I agreed with them. And it's not in the state of Texas.