Politics

Senate Hopefuls Clash In Two States

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

October 23, 2000 / 8:50 AM EDT / CBS

In two of the nation's high-profile races, Senate hopefuls in Virginia and Michigan hoped to boost their prospects in Sunday night debates.

In Grand Rapids, Mich., U.S. Sen. Spence Abraham and his challenger, U.S. Rep. Debbie Stabenow, debated Social Security and education - with a measure of feistiness - in their second and final televised matchup before Nov. 7.

Meanwhile, in Richmond, Va., Sen. Chuck Robb and former Gov. George Allen clashed over gay rights, negative ads and abortion issues in their only debate to be televised statewide.

In the Michigan melee, which lasted an hour, undecided voters were tapped to question the candidates via satellite. The forum was taped at Grand Valley State University. In their responses, Abraham and Stabenow exchanged modest barbs, hoping to illustrate sharp philosophical differences on various topics.

Abraham, a Republican, wants to force school accountability through teacher testing and merit pay and said individual schools should be allowed to budget their own federal subsidies. Stabenow, a Democrat, said she aims to shrink class size by hiring more teachers. She also wants more parents involved.

On Social Security, Abraham said his bill to keep those funds safe from being tapped for other needs will help ensure Social Security money is there for seniors who need it while still allowing for tax cuts. Stabenow said his bill won't ensure the program's health forever. She argued that people should be able to supplement retirement funds through investments. She also supports tax credits for small businesses offering pensions to employees.

After the debate, administrative assistant Georgia Washington, 50, said was moved to back Stabenow: "I'm going Democratic. I liked her answers. She's thinking like I'm thinking."

Conversely, Chris Walkup, 31, who is a software specialist at Amway Corp., leaned toward Abraham, saying, "I don't have a problem with the rich getting tax cuts. I'm not rich, but if I ever get rich, I don't want them taking my money."

A recent EPIC/MRA poll showed Abraham at 47 percent, Stabenow at 40 percent and 13 percent undecided, with a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

In Virginia, the fast-paced format in the final debate made for the most wide-ranging of the candidates' meetings since August, although the dominant issue of the past two months - education - was hardly mentioned.

Allen, 48, a Republican, said he favored boosting punishment for hate crimes committed against gays, listed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, an anti-abortion judge, as his favorite contemporary jurist and bristled at a question about his demeanor.

Robb, 61, a Democrat, criticized the Boy Scouts of America for banning homosexual troop leaders, defended his votes to acquit President Clinton in his impeachment trial and backed a former justice from Virginia who voted in the majority to legalize abortion.

On the issue of negative campaigning, moderator Lary J. Sabato asked the candidates if they would forsake attack ads during the campaign's final 15 days. Both candidates, their parties and allied but independent interest groups have aired well over $10 million in attack ads this year.

"Why don't we shake on it? We can do it here, in front of all of Virginia," Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia, implored Allen and Robb.

Robb said he would if Allen would agree to it. Allen wouldn't.

"You're asking for unilateral disarmament against an opponent who, in the last campaign, had coordinated expenditures in the last weekend of the election in which they paid several tens of thousands of dollars in fines," Allen said.

In 1995, the Federal Election Commission fined the National Council of Senior Citizens $12,000 for running ads against Republican Oliver North in Robb's 1994 re-election campaign. The FEC cited improper contact between the group and Robb's campaign.

The moderator asked Allen about his demeanor and played a clip of him at the 1994 GOP state convention exhorting delegates: "Figuratively, let's enjoy knocking their (Democrats') soft teeth down their whiny throats."

Allen characterized his quote as the type of locker-room speech his late father, football coach George H. Allen, would have used to incite his players. Allen said he accepted full blame for saying it.

"We were sitting there in the locker room and I thought the speech needed a stronger ending, and there I was thinking of locker room talk and what would motivate a team my father would be coaching," Allen said.