GOP candidates appeal for Fla. votes

ORLANDO -- Republican presidential candidates made their pitches Saturday in a state widely viewed as pivotal to next year's election.

"The general election is going to be decided right here," said former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, one of four contenders who addressed a rally of Florida Republicans at a golf resort near Disney World.

Romney, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John McCain, and ex-senator Fred Thompson tailored their messages to the Florida Republican Party, which is sponsoring a Fox News debate Sunday night. Florida's GOP primary is scheduled for Jan. 29.

Each of the candidates alluded to the 2000 Florida recount and said the state could reprise its central role in next fall's campaign, possibly against New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who currently leads in the Democratic Party's polls.

"In 2000 you saved us from Al Gore," Giuliani told more 1,000 party members. "We're going to need you in 2008 to save us from Hillary Clinton."

At least 3,000 party members attended the Florida rally, which came on the heels of the Family Research Council's "values voters" summit organized in Washington, where Giuliani spoke Saturday morning. Other GOP candidates addressed the group on Friday.

Giuliani, a supporter of abortion rights, told the crowd of religious conservatives that "people of good conscience reach different conclusions" on that issue. The former mayor of New York promised to be honest with his positions, even if the religious right doesn't always agree them.

"I will give you reason to trust me," Giuliani said.

But it was Romney who narrowly won the straw poll of religious voters, with Huckabee coming in second.

While he stressed social issues at the Family Research Council's summit, Romney cited his business experience during his talk Saturday with Florida Republicans. He and McCain accused Clinton of embracing a "big government" philosophy.

McCain said the party lost the 2006 congressional elecions because it got away from its philosophical roots, particularly fiscal discipline. "We let spending get out of control," he said.