David Jackson

USA TODAY

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Republican presidential candidates pitched anti-poverty programs Saturday that emphasize the private market and de-emphasize the role of government — though Marco Rubio found himself forced into a shouting side debate over immigration.

"Marco Rubio wants to deport me!" a man yelled during a string of protests targeting the Florida senator. Police removed a series of protesters as they chanted things like "deport me? no way!" and "undocumented and unafraid!"

Rubio generally talked through the protests to discuss the subject at hand — the challenges of poverty — but at one point told his critics: "We're going to enforce our immigration laws, guys."

A fellow panelist, GOP presidential campaign opponent John Kasich, came to Rubio's aid at one point, telling the immigration protesters they were turning people against their cause. "I think we got the point," the Ohio governor told Rubio's critics.

In addition to Rubio and Kasich, GOP candidates Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, and Ben Carson — most of whom have clashed with each other on the campaign trail — confined their discussions to agreeing that federal efforts to defeat poverty have been less than successful.

Focusing more on policy than politics, the candidates told the Kemp Forum on Expanding Opportunity that states should be given more authority over programs that can promote marriage, generate jobs, improve education, reduce drug addiction and lower taxes.

"The real answer to poverty is not government, but the private sector," said Carson, a retired neurosurgeon.

Bush, the former governor of Florida, told a largely Republican crowd that "compassion is not measured by how much money you spend in Washington," and that rewarding work should be the biggest requirement of any anti-poverty program.

Christie, the governor of New Jersey, said too many people enrolled in these kinds of programs would lose income if they took a job, and one response is to lower the tax burden on low-income employees. He also cited the impact of drug addiction — a big issue in New Hampshire, site of the Feb. 9 Republican primary — saying it is "a huge part of this debilitating cycle" of poverty.

During a later panel, Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, said "there is an industry of poverty" that relies on the federal government to sustain itself. "Let those programs be managed at the state level," Huckabee said.

Offering his conservative vision of fighting poverty, Rubio said federal programs largely developed in the 1960s are outmoded in the modern world.

Kasich touted his record in Ohio, and said poverty can be reduced on items ranging from improving the tax code to anti-drug addiction programs.

"It looks like we wore out the protesters," Kasich joked during the less noisy end of his session.

Echoing conservative themes that stretch back to the days of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, Christie, Bush and Carson participated in a panel discussion hosted by a pair of prominent modern Republicans (and endorsement targets): House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Sen Tim Scott, R-S.C.

Another panel featured Rubio and Kasich, while Huckabee spoke alone with Ryan and Scott. (Businesswoman Carly Fiorina was scheduled to attend, but had transportation issues en route to South Carolina.)

Ryan told the Columbia convention center crowd that the federal government has been fighting a "war on poverty" since the 1960s — part of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society — and the results have been a "stalemate" at best.

While panelists generally stuck to economic policy, the event still had more than a whiff of politics. South Carolina holds a key Republican primary Feb. 20.

As Republicans criticized the effectiveness of government programs, Democrats said the GOP's emphasis on tax cuts and reducing government regulations undercut their claims to want to fight poverty.

Jared Bernstein, a former economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, said that, contrary to the criticism, initiatives like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program have "important, positive long-term benefits for children" and other recipients.

In a blog post on the subject of Saturday's event, Bernstein — a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities — said his concern is that Kemp Forum participants "want to fix poverty by breaking the safety net. And that’s a really bad idea."

The host organization — the Jack Kemp Foundation— is named for the late U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp, a Republican who promoted conservative proposals to fight poverty. Some of the GOP candidates echoed Kemp's ideas such as "enterprise zones," impoverished areas where businesses are offered tax breaks and other incentives to move in.

The organization Opportunity Lives sponsored the Kemp Forum on Expanding Opportunity, along with two other think tanks, the American Enterprise Institute and the Economic Innovation Group.

Saturday's schedule also featured two other prominent South Carolina Republicans whose endorsements are being sought: Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Lindsey Graham, who withdrew from the presidential race last month.

Graham told the crowd that, when it comes to poverty and other issues, "the bottom line is that both parties are failing." The South Carolina senator said he wants to see the Republicans be more like Kemp, including new approaches to help the poor.

"Where did the party of Jack Kemp go?" Graham said. "Is it still out there? I hope so."