Topeka ? Apparently emboldened by his gubernatorial primary victory Tuesday night, State Treasurer Tim Shallenburger on Wednesday made his clearest statement yet that Kansas school districts must live with spending cuts if the alternative is raising taxes.

“I think schools could make it with 1 percent or 2 percent or 3 percent less,” Shallenburger said at a morning gathering billed by the GOP as a “Unity Breakfast.”

Shallenburger’s defeated rivals, Wichita Mayor Bob Knight and Senate President Dave Kerr of Hutchinson, attended the breakfast.

But neither Knight nor Kerr said much.

And other Republicans in attendance said more work lies ahead if the party is to unite its conservative and moderate wings after a bruising primary campaign.

“Eggs and a cup of coffee is not going to be what makes the Republican Party work,” said Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh, a moderate.

Conspicuous by their absence were the biggest names from each of the party’s factions: Gov. Bill Graves, Atty. Gen. Carla Stovall and U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, all moderates; and U.S. Sen. Brownback, a conservative.

Graves’ office issued a “no comment” when asked whether Graves would endorse primary winners Shallenburger for governor and Phill Kline for attorney general.

After breakfast, which was attended by about 100 party activists and candidates, Shallenburger took his unity show on the road to rallies in Pittsburg, Wichita, Dodge City, Great Bend and Overland Park.

Meanwhile, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Sebelius campaigned in Topeka and Wichita, discussing concerns of small-business owners and criticizing remarks from Shallenburger on education spending.

At the breakfast, Shallenburger said Republican voters agreed with him that state government has waste that can be cut and liked his promise not to raise taxes.

Kerr and Knight agreed the anti-tax message resonated most with voters. They had said they would protect education and essential social services.

“The no-tax message was obviously a very beguiling one to offer in the primary,” Kerr told reporters. “I’m sure all of us will try very hard to accomplish that” in the next legislative session.

Sebelius has not said definitively whether she would be willing to increase taxes. Instead, she has said she would review government spending and agency operations and try to shift money into education and other important programs.

“This is not the time to cut schools,” she said. “Some of it really is a question of priorities.”

Sebelius also said she is concerned about small businesses’ ability to provide affordable health care for employees and that she thinks the state can do more to provide training for workers.

In the GOP primary, Shallenburger’s support cut across geographic regions. He won 67 counties, including Knight’s home county of Sedgwick.

Kerr won 31 counties, including Johnson; Knight won only seven, none of them large enough to bring him close to Shallenburger.”We had more volunteers on the ground; we had more grass-roots support,” Shallenburger said. “Our message was consistent. The average working person in Kansas will relate to Tim Shallenburger. Most Kansans are conservatives. We think our message sells.”