GOP Candidates Offer New Year's Resolutions

(NewsCore) - The Republican candidates for president all played it safe when asked to name their New Year's resolutions for 2012.

The seven main contenders vying to face off against President Barack Obama were each asked by CBS's "Face The Nation" to name their goals for the upcoming year.

"This coming year I will endeavor to say thank you more often," said former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. "Appreciation is an underappreciated quality, and too often I think I get a lot of help from folks and I nod my head or move on without stopping and staying thank you, so I want to be more appreciative."

Texas Rep. Ron Paul said that he would try to deliver a better message while out on the stump looking for votes.

"My own personal goals in life has always been to improve myself in delivering a message and make sure that when people come to hear me that I deliver a proper message and do a better job each time I do it, so I'll continue to work on that resolution," he said.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann was even more direct, saying her resolution was to become the Republican nominee.

"Yes, it's to work very, very hard and win the Iowa caucus and then win the New Hampshire primary and then win the South Carolina primary and then go on and win the Florida primary, so my resolution is to win primaries next year and become the nominee," she told CBS with a smile.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman both mentioned the men and women of the US armed forces when giving their answers.

"A little more love and compassion," Huntsman said. "It would be a great thing if this next year, where we have a widow or a spouse who has lost a loved one or a child that doesn't have a dad or a mom to show a little more love and concern to them, that would be a great thing for this country to do."

Perry resolved to "pray more often for our young men and women who are in our combat theaters that they'll come home soon safe" and "to spend a great deal of time here in this campaign laying out bold ideas and issues that the people of this country really want to hear about."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich didn't offer a resolution of his own, but said it wouldn't involve butter.

"I can tell you my New Year's resolution will not include three kinds of butter which was the most interesting story of the morning," he said. "We were on 'FOX & Friends' and part of what they were talking about was part of what the president's part of what he ate last night, one of the dishes had three kinds of butter."

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who is surging in recent Iowa polls with just two days before the caucuses, hinted that his resolution was the same as Bachmann's.

"I haven't thought about that yet, but I suspect you might guess," he said to laughter.