Arkansas Republicans couldn’t complain about a lack of sleep during this year’s national convention.

Unlike their Democratic counterparts up every day at 7 a.m. for breakfast meetings, the state’s GOP delegates had just one group breakfast — on the convention’s first day.

Tuesday through Thursday, delegates were on their own to attend other meetings or hit the snooze button.

GOP state director Karen Ray said the party decided to save its money for political races instead of using it for breakfasts during convention week.

“Our business is to go out and elect candidates,” Ray said. “We didn’t go out and raise money for the convention. We went out and raised money for our elections this year. We’re trying to be as responsible with our dollars as possible.”

The hotel where the Arkansas delegation stays hosts a free buffet breakfast every day, so delegates didn’t necessarily have to miss a morning meal, Ray said.

Last week in Denver, the Democrats’ daily breakfast meetings included speeches by members of the state’s congressional delegation.

Republicans on Monday heard from former Gov. Mike Huckabee and supporters of John McCain that included North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven and conservative commentator Gary Bauer.

The lone GOP breakfast was sponsored by Wal-Mart. Sponsors last week for Democrats included Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both D-Ark.

Maybe Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers, could have helped GOP delegates with what’s considered the most important meal of the day. Boozman does not have a Democratic opponent this year and had more than $175,000 in the bank at the end of June, according to campaign finance records.