Are Republicans finally waking up in hopes of avoiding large losses in the November elections?

Members of the GOP get elected by talking about smaller government and fiscal responsibility. But under George W. Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress, discretionary spending is up 48.5 percent -- outpacing what even LBJ and congressional Democrats were able to get away with during the 1960s.

Nor can Republicans use the war on terror as an excuse for their budget busting. According to the Cato Institute, less than one-fifth of the 8.8 percent annual increase in defense spending under Mr. Bush went to support wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal, Democrats are trying to damage Republicans by harping on ethics. But polls show most voters believe corruption isn't the exclusive domain of either party. And it appears some Republicans now realize that they can deflect those attacks by harkening back to their core principles.

"Joe Gaylord, a consultant to several Republican congressional candidates, said he's advising all of them to make out-of-control spending a key theme in their campaigns," Bloomberg News reports.

Meanwhile, the Club for Growth, a GOP-leaning group that advocates spending cuts and tax relief, is raising money to back House candidates who embrace that approach. "If you don't get spending under control, eventually you're going to have a big tax increase," said Pat Toomey, a former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania who heads the group.

For evidence that Republicans are listening, consider last week's House leadership election. Instead of siding with the establishment candidate, Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, who has close ties to former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, House Republicans elevated Ohio Rep. John Boehner to the post of majority leader.

Part of Rep. Boehner's new job will be to help craft legislation to mute the beltway ethics brouhaha, but he said he's also committed to reviving the spirit that swept Republicans into the majority in 1994. We "must take the necessary steps to get the federal budget under control -- to cut wasteful spending, reform our entitlement programs and craft a budget process that encourages fiscal discipline," he said. "And we must recommit ourselves to reducing the influence of government in our lives."

Let's hope this time they actually try it.