Murray-Rossi Debate

On Thursday October 14^th in Spokane was a debate between Democratic Senator Patty Murray, 60, and Republican Dino Rossi, 51, the two candidates for the U.S. Senate. This was their first public appearance together since the whole campaign. It was useful to watch and see where the two candidates drew their lines on issues. It also painted a picture of their personalities.

Murray started with her sympathetic sentence “This state is my family and my family is hurting, That's why I'm working so hard with your community leaders to get you jobs and get this country back on track again.”

While Rossi said a more ominous statement. “We’re moving down a path that is very dangerous. If we don’t have a course correction this year, 24 months form now I think we’re going to wake up in a country we don’t even recognize.”

The two candidates mostly spoke of tax cuts, health care, “don’t ask, don’t tell” and Afghanistan, major themes that everyone was interested in.

On tax cuts, Rossi wants to permanently extend all of them while Murray wants to only extend the ones passed in 2001 and 2003, exempting the wealthy.

On health care, Rossi was forward in saying that it will cause thousands of jobs to be lost or not created in our state. “This actually could bankrupt America,” he stated. Murray was asked if she had read the bill before voting on it and Murray reveals that she also helped to write it. She believes that it is essential for a step in the right direction for individuals to have greater control of their own health care.

On the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy Murray was adamant about it being repealed and that she has actually sponsored legislation to do exactly that. Rossi was unsure and said that he wanted to read a report on the policy ordered by Pentagon leaders and speak to military commanders before taking a stand on one side or the other.

What was an interesting addition to the debate was when they were asked if they could find something in their opponent they respected and Murray said she praised Rossi for getting into the race because it’s not an easy decision. Rossi saw the senator’s work for veterans admirable.

* * * *

In their final that was Sunday night October 17^th, Senator Patty Murray and Dino Rossi had very different views about what role the government should play in bringing the U.S. out of its devastating recession.

Murray praised government action to repair the damage done by Wall Street and goes on to state her record of delivering money for the state’s roads, colleges, and businesses. She also reminded us of the millions she managed to secure to repair Howard Hanson Dam and replace Seattle’s South Park Bridge. Rossi contends her by saying that the kind of government Murray supports is the cause of our current problem. He said that businesses need a steady regulation and low taxes in order to start hiring again and decreasing unemployment. He appeals to the voters with small businesses by saying “It's not with more government, it's not with stimulus, it's not with the health-care plan. It's got to be with small business being more successful."

When the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy came up again in the debate, Rossi still refused to take a stand on one side or the other, saying that he wanted to wait to see the results of a not-yet published Pentagon report on the subject.

They discussed children of illegal immigrants and Rossi also refused to say whether he favors letting them remain in the country and start on a path towards citizenship. He backed his indecision by saying that he hasn’t heard of a good solution to that as of yet and that the federal government should secure the borders. Murray said that she would support for a law that would give the children of illegal immigrants a chance to be citizens after attending college or joining the military.

Both candidates are well-known to the general public of voters, so the race is close with Murray coming out slightly on top.

In conclusion, I think that both debates were pretty much the same. Here you have an 18-year incumbent who wants to keep her position as Senator. In both debates Murray talks about creating jobs, the health care plan, and repairing the damages done by Wall Street. While in both debates Murray stayed more focus on the task at hand as far as answering the question that were asked instead of focusing on attacking her opponent. Issues like immigration has come across the table which I thought both candidate ideals on handling that situation were not that great. Murray represented her ideals and goals pretty well and I think she may keep her position but it is a close race.
Dino Rossi in both debates only seemed to criticize Murray more and not answer to much to the questions at hand. His so call answers were saying that our country was in trouble, talked about how small businesses weren't willing to expand, he talks about losing choices in health care. He said nothing about creating jobs are anything good to make me vote for him. Murray accused Rossi of trying to finish what Bush has started. Both debates were very interesting.