MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Republican presidential rivals backed a blend of tax and spending cuts Thursday night to head off an election-year recession they generally agreed is not inevitable.
“We should reduce taxes on middle-income Americans immediately,” former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said in a debate in the run-up to presidential primaries in Michigan and South Carolina.
“The first thing is not to raise taxes,” said former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. “Cut the marginal tax rate, if anything, and eventually go to a fair tax,” he added, referring to his plan for a national sales tax to replace the income tax.
Arizona Sen. John McCain stressed spending cuts to get the budget deficit under control, although he also said it was important not to let Bush administration-era tax cuts expire. He pledged to “wield the veto pen” and block all pork-barrel spending bills that Congress sends him.
While the debate was held in South Carolina, the Michigan primary will be held first, a contest in which Romney, Huckabee and McCain are the principal antagonists. It’s unlikely all of them can survive a defeat there, particularly a third-place finish.
South Carolina’s Jan. 19 primary has drawn a different group of competitors. Former Sen. Fred Thomp son of Tennessee has made it clear he needs a victory or something close to it, while McCain and Huckabee also are counting on a strong showing. Romney abruptly canceled television advertising in the state earlier this week and is concentrating, for the moment, on Michigan.
Thompson underscored the urgency of a strong South Carolina showing when he launched an attack on Huckabee, standing a few feet away on the debate stage.
“This is a battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party and its future. On the one hand, you have the Reagan revolution. … On the other hand, you have the direction that Gov. Huckabee would take us . . . liberal economic policies, liberal foreign policies,” he said.
Huckabee seemed unruffled.
“The Air Force has a saying that if you’re not catching flak, you’re not over the target. I’m catching the flak. I must be over the target,” he said.
He added he had cut taxes as governor of Arkansas and was re-elected, a sure sign that constituents were pleased with his performance.
Thompson, who advocates a cut in corporate taxes, also said: “We need to count on the Federal Reserve doing the right thing on interest rates” to keep the economy from tumbling into recession.
He added that tax cuts enacted in recent years should be extended.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani also advocated tax cuts, and his campaign purchased an advertisement during the first commercial break that said he would send the largest tax cut in history to Congress on his first day in the White House.
Alone among the six presidential rivals on the debate stage, Texas U.S. Rep. Ron Paul said, “I believe we are in a recession. I believe it’s going to get a lot worse.”
The first three contests of the Republican campaign have yielded three winners: Huckabee in the leadoff Iowa caucuses; Romney in the little-contested Wyoming caucuses; and McCain in Tuesday’s fiercely fought New Hampshire primary.
The debate unfolded as one poll showed McCain getting a bounce from his New Hampshire triumph and moving narrowly ahead of Huckabee and Romney in South Carolina.
