The two Republicans seeking to represent their party in the race for the Third Congressional District sparred over immigration, federal spending and other issues in a debate Wednesday in Provo.

U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, stressed the advantages of his incumbency and tried to emphasize the role he's played in issues such as immigration and the privatization of government. Challenger John Jacob, meanwhile, repeated several times that "we need a change."

Neither candidate garnered the 60 percent support needed to grab the nomination at the GOP state convention last month, so Republican voters will decide the contest June 27. The winner will face Democrat Christian Burridge in the November general election.

Immigration reform has been the most high-profile topic in this race, and a good-sized chunk of the discussion Wednesday focused on competing legislation pending in Congress.

Bills passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate agree on building more border fencing, requiring employers to electronically verify the immigration status of employees and funding more Border Patrol agents. They differ, however, on whether people already here should be allowed a path to citizenship and whether there should be a guest worker program. The House version includes neither of those items.

Cannon has been involved in this issue and said he likely will be on the conference committee that will negotiate the compromise legislation.

"Obviously, there are a lot of reasons to vote against this bill," Cannon said of the Senate legislation, which he described as an "oddball freak show at the circus."

He and Jacob agreed on the need for more border security, but Cannon urged a practical approach to the question of immigrants already here illegally.

"You can't take 12 million consumers out of the system, you can't take 12 million contributors out of the system, without causing some serious pain," he said.

Jacob took a sterner line.

"Now they're trying to pass a law that 80 percent of the public does not want," he said. "We don't want guest worker or amnesty, no matter what they call it.

"Until we stop up the borders, we can't fix this problem."

Both candidates also said it's important to stop up federal spending.

Cannon noted that, despite the outlays for military spending and hurricane relief, the driver of the country's mounting deficits and national debt are steep tax cuts enacted since President George Bush took office.

He added, however, that the tax cuts have created a "robust economy" that is keeping deficits in check.

"Our deficits are small compared to what they otherwise would be," he said.

The way to rein in spending, Cannon said, is to ax entire federal departments -- he'd put the Department of Education on the block -- and privatize government functions, which he said he has the experience to do.

"That's time, that's contacts, that's relationships, that's understanding how government works," Cannon said.

Jacob repeated his standard for privatization -- if a government agency can't survive by running as a business, it deserves to be dissolved. And, he said, the federal government's spending is out of control.

"We're spending too much money," Jacob said. "We're spending more as a Republican Congress than a Democratic Congress.

"I can't do worse than that."

The debate will air daily at 9:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. for the next week on Channel 1 of the iProvo network.

It will also be posted at the Daily Herald Web site, www.heraldextra.com.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B10.