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Sen. George Allen tried to paint Jim Webb as a flip-flopper.
Webb implied that Allen is out of touch with average voters.
Sen. George Allen and challenger Jim Webb fielded questions |
HOT SPRINGS--Sen. George Allen and challenger Jim Webb crossed swords over Iraq, economic policy and their own political affiliations in their first debate, held at The Homestead during the Virginia Bar Association's annual meeting.
Allen, a one-term incumbent and former Virginia governor, made frequent mention of his own long legislative record and sought to paint Webb as a flip-flopper. Webb is an author, Vietnam veteran and former secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan who has switched to the Democratic Party. He said it is time for "fresh eyes" on the country's problems, and he has worked to portray Allen as more tied to President Bush than to the average voter's needs.
The debate is the first in this year's campaign for the U.S. Senate seat held by Allen; the election is in November. It was largely civil, with no outbursts and no huge gaffes by either man.
Several questions focused on foreign policy, particularly the United States' involvement in Iraq.
Allen's position is that removing troops from Iraq is tantamount to surrender, while Webb wants to see a plan for ending American involvement there.
"It's good to write novels. In the real world, we got hit on 9/11," Allen said, referring to Webb's authorship of several novels. "We can't back down, Jim. We need a strategy for success, rather than a strategy to back down. We should not be tucking tail and running. There is progress being made, but it is tough. It is hard to stand up a government there."
Webb said Iraq and other Middle Eastern nations need strong governments in place and more cooperation among those governments.
But he suggested that American involvement contributes to instability in that region.
"The situation in the Middle East would be a lot different if we had not invaded Iraq," Webb said. "There will never be full stability in that region until American forces leave."
While such foreign policy issues cropped up several times, domestic issues such as the minimum wage, affirmative action and stem-cell research also came up.
Webb supports stem-cell research, saying, "If I were sitting in a wheelchair somewhere with Parkinson's disease, I know I would support it."
Allen opposes government funding of embryonic stem-cell research, although he said he supports research into other, non-embryonic stem cells.
"I don't think the government ought to fund it. If the private sector wants to fund it, they can. But it's not appropriate for the taxpayers to pay for the sort of research that would destroy a human embryo," Allen said. He added that using other types of stem cells helps people and provides scientific advancement without the moral and ethical issues surrounding embryonic cells.
Webb also supports raising the federal minimum wage, and criticized Allen for not pushing for a wage increase while voting to raise his own salary as a senator several times.
Allen countered that he has voted to raise the minimum wage, but believes it must be tied to tax breaks for small businesses to minimize the effect of higher wages on those businesses.
Webb was questioned about his position on affirmative action. He said he does not oppose it on principle, but wants to see affirmative-action programs return to their intent, to help blacks, instead of being used to help other minorities as well.
"I have always supported affirmative action for African-Americans," Webb said, but under the current state of affirmative-action programs, "poor whites have suffered a double disability. It was designed to help African-Americans remove the badges of slavery. What's happened now is completely different."
Webb at one point pushed Allen to commit to supporting a GI bill, similar to that passed for World War II veterans, for current soldiers.
"It's the greatest thing that you could do or I could do," Webb said. "I would hope you'd even do it next week, just put the bill in."
Allen said he has worked to get better health insurance for National Guard troops and reservists, and that he'll look into the specifics of the GI-bill issue but won't commit to introducing such legislation.
"Can it be better? Sure can be, but we've made progress," Allen said.
In his turn, Allen needled Webb about an issue in Portsmouth--opening another port near Craney Island--that Webb knew nothing about.
Webb's ignorance of that issue, Allen said afterward, shows "he's not conversant on the issues."
"Anybody can have an esoteric issue put in front of them," Webb said, saying leadership ability is more important.
One thing the two men seemed to agree on is the United States' actions regarding prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Both Allen and Webb said enemy combatants should not be freed during a military action, and that the detainees in Guantanamo are operatives who could harm the United States if returned to their home countries.
Webb, however, added that the U.S. must be careful to observe the Geneva Conventions regarding fair treatment of prisoners, to help ensure that any American prisoners in other countries would also be treated fairly.
On immigration policy, Allen said he wants to build literal fences along American borders, and opposes amnesty and guest-worker programs.
Webb said he would like to see the federal government crack down on companies hiring illegal immigrants, an area where he thinks the current administration has failed.
Debate moderator and Virginia Commonwealth University political analyst Robert Holsworth said that Allen "showed why it's always going to be an uphill battle to beat George Allen," while Webb displayed passion about issues other than Iraq, such as the minimum wage.
Holsworth said Webb proved himself conversant on economic issues but had a harder time drawing a strong contrast between himself and Allen on foreign policy issues.
"Their differences were differences of nuance," Holsworth said.
To reach CHELYEN DAVIS:
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com
