Gingrich, Romney and Santorum deliver pitch to tea party voters

It was not exactly a third Florida presidential debate. But for about half an hour Sunday night, in a series of back-to-back-to-back appearances, three of the four Republican presidential candidates had a last chance to share a platform and make their pitches to an audience listening less than 48 hours before the state’s crucial primary.

The Tea Party Patriots, one of the largest groups operating under the tea party banner, brought together Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum in a “Tele Forum” for its Florida members.

(At times, though, it sounded more like one of those Labor Day telethons, as listeners were repeatedly urged to press “7” on their phones to send the organization money.)

Each of the presidential contestants had 10 minutes to address the same three questions about budgets cuts and their personal trustworthiness. Each responded about the same way, pledging to make cuts -- real cuts, not just slowing the rate of federal spending -- as soon as they took office and insisting their records showed unshakable constancy, whatever they may have done over the years to make tea partyers unhappy.

Former House Speaker Gingrich, who spoke first, insisted he could save $500 billion just by cutting unspecified waste in government. Hiring Visa, MasterCard or American Express to handle Medicare payments would save another $60 billion to $110 billion annually, he said, simply by “not paying crooks.”

Gingrich further vowed to abolish the Department of Energy, shrink or abolish the Department of Housing and Urban Development and drastically scale back the Department of Education.

Romney said he would immediately grant waivers to every state so as to kill President Obama’s healthcare overhaul -- saving $95 billion “right off the top” -- and would eliminate a host of programs, including national endowments for the arts and humanities and funding for Amtrak and the Public Broadcasting System.

Other programs would be put to a test: “Is it worth borrowing money from China to pay for it?” If not, Romney said, out they would have to go.

He also promised to slash the federal workforce 10% through attrition, and to ship a whole bunch of aid programs, like food stamps and housing vouchers, back to the states to run. His goal, the former Massachusetts governor said, would be to reduce federal spending to 20% of the gross domestic product -- down from the current 25% -- by the end of his first term.

Santorum scoffed at the figure and said a serious budget-cutter would bring that figure down to 18% of GDP. He too proposed shipping programs back to states, saying governors would gladly accept less money from the federal government if given the flexibility to run aid programs and reform them in the process.

Earlier, the former senator from Pennsylvania had scrapped his Florida schedule after his 3-year-old daughter, Bella, was hospitalized with pneumonia. Thanking well-wishers for their prayers, Santorum said she had taken a turn for the better in just the last few hours.)

Given a chance to offer a few last words on their behalf, the candidates took familiar shots at their rivals.

Gingrich called Romney a Massachusetts liberal and said it would be “truly sad” if the party bestowed its nomination on the former governor. “We need someone who is willing to stand up in a strong, Ronald Reagan-like way and genuinely take on Washington, D.C.,” Gingrich said.

Romney, without naming the thrice-married Gingrich, mentioned his 42-year marriage and noted that many of the people he has worked with over the decades have endorsed his candidacy and “speak in favor of my trustworthiness and integrity.” Left unspoken were the attacks that Gingrich has faced from many of his Republicans peers and former underlings in Washington.

Santorum lumped the two together, suggesting their support at various points in their careers for a government healthcare mandate, cap-and-trade legislation to fight global warming and the 2008 Wall Street bailout made their candidacies antithetical to tea party values.

The three issues, he said, are of paramount concern to tea partyers, and “with Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, you give all three issues away.”

Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who enjoys a wide following in tea party circles, did not participate in the call, citing an unspecified scheduling conflict.

mark.barabak@latimes.com