Jan 19, 2008 7:53 am US/Eastern
McCain: Pork Spending Leads To Economic Woes
Presidential Candidates Chime In On How To Fix Problem
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. attributes economic slowdown to pork barrel spending.
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
The economy was the No. 1 issue on the presidential campaign trail Friday, taking on heightened significance because of Saturday's Nevada caucuses and South Carolina's Republican primary.
John McCain blamed his own party for some of the economic woes.
"Stop the out of control spending," the Arizona senator said.
On the day President Bush called for an economic stimulus package, McCain continued his straight talk express. He told voters in South Carolina that his party and pork barrel spending helped create the mess the country is in.
"We cut taxes and we let spending go completely out of control," McCain said.
All the presidential candidates now have plans to fix the economy, but the important South Carolina Republican primary Saturday elevated the rhetoric. McCain is seeking corporate tax cuts, Mike Huckabee said the president's proposed tax breaks were a good short-term solution.
"I think he's on the right track," Huckabee said of McCain. "One of the things is to make the tax cuts permanent, give people some confidence that they are not going to go out in the market place only to have government reach deep into their pockets."
South Carolina could be a make of break state for Fred Thompson, who needs a win to stay viable as a candidate.
"We need to quit spending money that we don't have and we need to quit bankrupting the next generation," Thompson said.
In Nevada for that state's caucuses, Hillary Clinton said she agreed with the president's call for direct tax rebates, but said it doesn't go far enough.
"From what we've been told it leaves out 50 million working Americans, people who are on fixed incomes who are seniors," Clinton said.
Barack Obama was equally wary.
"The most important step is a short term stimulus that just gets money into the pockets of Americans, so you don't see consumer spending just drastically drop," Obama said.
As sitting senators, McCain, Clinton and Obama will have a voice -- and a vote -- in just what kind of economic stimulus package gets enacted by Congress.
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