TAMPA (Florida) - REPUBLICAN presidential candidates sparred over the best fix for the faltering US economy on Wednesday as a poll showed Florida's high-stakes race for the White House tightening.

Senator John McCain, enjoying a surge of momentum after high-profile wins in New Hampshire and South Carolina, declared the US economy was fundamentally 'still strong' and vowed to keep taxes low and curb government spending.

'I am convinced we can make a comeback and I believe that we can fix the problems that we are presently in,' the 71-year-old Vietnam War hero told voters in Orlando a day after recession fears triggered wild swings in US stock prices.

The Herald poll, taken Jan. 20-22, showed Mr McCain with 25 per cent of the Republican vote, putting him in a statistical tie with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney who had 23 per cent of likely Republican voters.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who staked his campaign on Florida, trailed with 15 per cent support - down from 36 per cent in a Herald poll in November. That puts him tied with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

Mr Huckabee, a former Baptist preacher who won the first contest in Iowa by rallying evangelical Christians, had strong support in the Bible belt of northwestern Florida, a region populated with frequent churchgoers.

But Mr Romney, whose Mormon faith is viewed as a cult by some evangelicals, was the second-choice of conservative Christians, the poll showed, suggesting religion may not pose as steep a hurdle for Mr Romney as some political analysts have asserted.

The survey had a 3.5 percentage point margin of error.

Mr Giuliani, once a national front-runner, suffered another blow in a separate Field Poll which showed Mr McCain rising to the top of Republican presidential pack in California, a delegate-rich state that that holds big sway on Feb 5.

Recession fears

Mr Romney, a multimillionaire former venture capitalist, has put America's economic troubles at the centre of his campaign this week, presenting himself as a saviour of jobs and unveiling a new blue-and-white banner reading 'economic turnaround' as he touts his business resume at rallies.

'I won't need briefings on how the economy works. I know how it works. I've been there, and I think it's time to have a president who thoroughly understands the economy, understands jobs,' he told voters in Tampa.

He clashed with Mr McCain on taxes after the four-term senator from Arizona aired a new advertisement on Florida television airwaves pledging to 'protect our shores and protect your pocketbooks", and to make the Bush tax cuts permanent.

Mr Romney accused Mr McCain of flip-flopping over President George W. Bush's US$1.35 trillion (S$1.95 trillion) tax plan by voting against the cuts in 2001 and 2003 - votes that Mr McCain has defended by saying he was trying to hold down the budget deficit.

'He voted against them the first time, saying they represented a tax cut for the rich,' Mr Romney told reporters.

Mr Giuliani also sought to shore up his tax-cutting credentials, telling voters in Estero, Florida, that he was the only candidate who had revived a local economy and that he would cut taxes and non-military spending.

'Money goes in the direction of growth, so we have to present a picture of growth,' he said. 'An America with its head down, looking fearful about what's happening to it is not going to get a big increase in investment.' -- REUTERS

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