Senator Susan Collins and Congressman Tom Allen squared off in their tenth senatorial debate on Thursday, at USM’s Hannaford Lecture Hall.
The debate, moderated by MPBN’s Jennifer Rooks, featured questions from the hosts, as well as those culled from e-mail submissions and video questions from Maine residents.
With just over two weeks left before the election, and Allen trailing in the latest Rasmussen poll by 13 percentage points, the Representative from Maine’s 1st district was on the offensive, asking the tough questions of Collins and repeatedly trying to link her to the Bush administration.
When accused by Collins of engaging in harsh, class warfare rhetoric, Allen responded, “The only class warfare is Bush’s war on the middle class.”
When Collin’s was asked if she regretted acting as co-chair for Bush’s 04 campaign, she dismissed the issue as “typical,” adding ” it doesn’t mean we run their campaign or support their positions.”
When asked about the growing income gap in the U.S., the largest since the Great Depression, the candidates took different tacks. Collins called the situation “very troubling,” and emphasized progress through education, referencing her support for federal Pell grants for college students, as well as programs such as Upward Bound.
Allen lambasted the incumbent Senator for her support of ’01,’03, and ’06 tax breaks for the “super-wealthy”, votes that he felt exacerbated the wage gap and was “fundamentally bad for the middle class.”
Collins, who serves on John McCain’s Maine Leadership Team for the presidential election, condemned the McCain campaign for soliciting auto-calls around Maine, in which a recorded message stresses the connection between Barack Obama and former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers. “This has no place in Maine politics,” said Collins “I told them I thought they were a mistake, and I am disappointed.” Breaking further from the McCain campaign, she said that while Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has “many admirable qualities, I think Olympia Snowe would have been a better choice.”
Both Allen and Collin’s have carefully tweaked their campaign platforms in recent weeks to include more talk of the nation’s current economic woes. When asked for concrete proposals to handle the $10 trillion debt, Allen emphasized withdrawal from Iraq, currently running a tab of $1.8 billion a week. It provided an opening to tag the Bush administration as “the most fiscally irresponsible” in his lifetime. Collins offered cutting agricultural subsidies, eliminating subsidies for corn-based ethanol, and a slight tax hike for the wealthy.
Many of Allen’s answers came back to his ambitious health care plan, a idea that Collins disagrees with in part because of the estimated $75-$100 billion annual cost.
When the candidates were given the chance to ask questions directly of their opponents, Collins joked that “at this point, we could probably give each other’s answers.”
Many in the crowd were proudly displaying their party allegiance with stickers, pins, while a red-shirted crowd of Collins supporters clustered together. While few seemed undecided, they were wiling to give some kudos to the opposition.
“Collins is well spoken, she’s good at finding different ways of approaching question,” said USM grad Danielle Askini, adding that Collins used this approach to side with both Obama and McCain on different issues throughout the debate.
“She uses key phrases to swing liberal votes like ‘oh, I have this energy policy I voted with Obama on. Using things liberals can buy into is a clever strategy,” said Askini.
Allen actually attacked the same Obama plan that Collins supported, claiming that it was too shortsighted, and noting that it is not the same energy policy Obama supports today.
Mya Tavarez admits that while she’s proud of the accomplishments of a female senator from that it’s “time for a new direction. I don’t think she will be on board for change that’s really needed.”
“Every candidate has important issues, you can’t blame [Allen] for making it a central issue,” said Joe Lizotte, recent USM grad and Collins supporter. His favorite thing about Collins? ” I like how she works together, not just the party line.”
Jeff Douchette, President of the USM College Democrats thought Allen’s aggressive strategy served him well in the debate. “Tom did a good job of reminding voters how Collins has aligned with Bush, and not letting her have a pass on votes that have hurt the country, and Maine.”
The debate was sponsored by USM”s Muskie School of Public Service, MPBN, the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at The University of Maine, and the League of Women voters.