GOP candidates say they'll be tightwads

updated 1:34 p.m. ET April 17, 2007

WASHINGTON - Presidential hopefuls Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney want you to know they'll be cheapskates with taxpayer money - and they'll be proud of it.

"This country needs a president who can exercise fiscal discipline!" cries Giuliani, the former New York City mayor. Romney, the ex-governor of Massachusetts, asserts: "It makes no sense for us to keep on spending more money than we take in." And, McCain, the Arizona senator, adds: "We need to get it under control."

With such crowd-pleasing lines, the leading Republican presidential candidates are making limited spending a key part of their campaigns as they court voters frustrated with soaring deficits and lawmakers' pet projects.

Fiscal conservatives
The pitch is aimed at the GOP's economic conservatives, who are important to winning the Republican nomination - and their support might be more likely than the party's social conservatives voting for any of them.

Conservatives make up a significant part of the GOP base, with more than 68 percent of Republicans identifying themselves with that label in an Associated Press-Ipsos poll this month. However, a recent study found only 28 percent of those in the Republican Party call themselves hard-core social conservatives. That means a fiscally conservative message could have wide impact.

Spending restraint also is a topic that cuts across party lines and, thus, it could benefit candidates in states whose primary contests aren't limited to Republican voters.

"It's a unifying theme," said David Keating, executive director of the anti-tax group Club for Growth. "No one wants Congress and the president wasting their money."

Irresponsibility budgeting
Like all voters, Republicans care deeply about economic issues, such as taxes and spending, even though Iraq and terrorism remain their foremost concerns.

Over the past few years, pollsters say, Republicans have grown increasingly agitated by what they call irresponsible budgeting in Washington, but they haven't been as vocal about it as Democrats, perhaps to avoid being critical of President Bush and GOP lawmakers who controlled Congress until this year.

"Maybe these candidates can tap into something that's been under the surface for some time," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center. "It's also a nice way, perhaps, for them to distance themselves from President Bush in a way that other Republicans wouldn't see as disloyal."

At the same time, Giuliani, McCain and Romney may have little choice but to try to reach conservatives with economic messages rather than social messages. For various reasons, conservatives who oppose abortion, gay rights and gun control haven't fully embraced any of the three top candidates.

"Since they all have problems appealing to social conservatives, they have to look to see where their strengths are as candidates," said Costas Panagopoulos, a Fordham University political science professor.

Thus, fiscal restraint is a pillar of all three campaigns.

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