FACTBOX: Candidates react to latest economic data

(Reuters) - The latest economic data show the U.S. economy suffered its sharpest decline in seven years as consumers cut spending and businesses reduced investment. But the 0.3 percent annual rate of contraction in the Gross Domestic Product was not quite as severe as the 0.5 percent decline many economists had predicted.

Here are excerpts of the response to the government data by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate John McCain:

--Obama in a written statement said: "American consumers were especially hard hit, experiencing their largest decline in spending in 28 years as wages failed to keep up with the rising cost of living. The decline in our GDP didn't happen by accident -- it is a direct result of the Bush administration's trickle down, Wall Street first, Main Street last policies that John McCain has embraced for the last eight years and plans to continue for the next four...

"We need to grow our economy by creating jobs, providing tax relief for middle class families, and helping people stay in their homes, and that is exactly what I will do as President."

--McCain senior policy advisor Doug Holtz-Eakin in a statement warned: "Barack Obama would accelerate this dangerous course. According to the independent Center for Data Analysis, Barack Obama's new policies will destroy nearly 6 million jobs over the next decade...

"John McCain offers a new direction and a real choice: lower taxes and under control spending; lower health care costs and portable insurance; an energy policy that declares independence from dangerous and unstable sources, values the environment, and supports growth; serious reforms to taxes, education, and trade to promote global competitiveness, and short-run plans to help the seniors, savers, homeowners, and workers hurt by the financial crisis."