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Associated PressThe U.S. Senate candidate says fellow Republicans have abandoned their principles.
MIAMI - His party's leaders in the U.S. Senate have helped run up a record federal deficit, haven't made tough budget cuts and have failed President Bush, Republican Senate candidate Larry Klayman said Monday.
Klayman said he would be a "true" Republican in Washington who wouldn't go along simply because he was in the majority party.
"I support the president, but I think he's gotten bad advice and he's going along with the Senate leadership who wanted to hand out all these goodies," said Klayman, who's running for the GOP nomination against six other candidates.
Klayman, 52, said he can help the president by coming to the Senate as an outsider and taking the heat for a tough stand on the budget. He called the current Senate leadership "gutless."
"The Senate Republican leadership has failed the president and failed the country with a budget deficit of $5.75-trillion over the next 10 years. We have to balance that budget," he said.
Klayman spoke during a wide-ranging interview with the Associated Press. Klayman is the founder of Judicial Watch, the conservative, Washington-based watchdog group he left to run for Senate. He has also worked as a Justice Department lawyer.
Other Republicans running for the seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Bob Graham include Mel Martinez, a former Bush Cabinet member; former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum; state Sen. Daniel Webster; state House Speaker Johnnie Byrd; former New Hampshire Sen. Bob Smith; and Miami businessman Doug Gallagher.