Several candidates including Duncan Hunter and Ron Paul advocated getting rid of the IRS and all offered plans to cut spending. Rudy Giuliani suggested across the board 10-15 percent cuts for each federal agency. John McCain promised to veto every pork barrel spending project that came across his desk. Mitt Romney said in addition to vetoing pork, the president will have to reform entitlements and set a cap on non-military spending.

The closest the debate came to a tech question was one about reinvigorating the space program much like the United States did when planning to go to the moon, Mike Huckabee joked about putting Hillary Clinton on a mission to Mars and Tom Tancredo said the nation can't afford to go to Mars.