Gilmore vs. Warner, Blow by Blow
Former governors James S. Gilmore III and Mark R. Warner met yesterday morning in Fairfax before hundreds of business and state leaders in the second debate of their U.S. Senate contest.
Debate is Underway 10:55 a.m.
Gilmore and Warner were each given three minutes for opening statements. The two were introduced, shook hands and shared a quick word on stage. Warner went first. He spoke about the need for a new senator to tackle Street troubles, escalating gas prices and the United State's standing in the world. He talked about the differences between himself and touted his different approach to transportation, where projects were completed "on time and on budget. "We did what we said,'' Warner said.
Gilmore's Statement 10:55 a.m.
Gilmore spent his three minutes talking about all of his accomplishments working across party lines, which he said includes balancing the budget, delivering on car tax relief, putting lottery money back in education and reducing college tuition. But he took a subtle jab at Warner, who said he would not raise taxes but did, when he talked about trust. "When you say you are going to do something, you should do it,'' Gilmore said.
Say what? 11:00 a.m.
Members of the audience, including many elected officials, are having trouble hearing the candidates. At least one person complained to engineers.
Obama's Name Comes Up 11:01 a.m.
Gilmore is making every effort in the debate to link Warner to the Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama (IIl.) during the first two questions. He has referred at least twice to the "Obama-Warner" policies....
Economic Crisis 11:06 a.m.
The first few questions, perhaps predictable given this week's headlines, were about the bailouts of major financial institutions and companies. Gilmore talked about increasing government regulation of the companies and "forward-looking" policies to stand up to the "regular people."
Warner talked about increasing scrutiny on credit agencies involved in failed mortgages. Both Gilmore and Warner agreed that company executives should not be given hefty compensation packages known as "golden parachutes."
Warner Answers the Obama Question 11:09 a.m.
Warner recognizes Gilmore's strategy of linking him with Obama, saying he supports Obama and thinks he would make a good president. But then Warner looked right at the audience and said if he were elected to the U.S. Senate, he would remain bi-partisan. "Im on your team," he said. "Virginia's team."...
Net Worth 11:09
The audience chuckled, as did the candidates, when the panelist from the Richmond Times Dispatch, Jeff Schapiro, asked how the nation's financial crisis affected the two of them personally. Both of them are millionaires, but neither answered the question. Instead, both spoke about the impact on "working people." -- Anita Kumar...
Attacks Begin 11:14 a.m.:
It didn't take long for the attacks to begin. Gilmore is trying to tie Warner with Sen. Barack Obama, saying if they were elected they would raise taxes.
"I think working people need to have help,'' he said. Warner, who has tried to campaign as a candidate who can work with both parties, has largely steered clear of talking about Obama, the likely Democratic presidential candidate, although he has frequently mentioned Sen. John McCain. But Warner said he is proud of his support of Obama and then criticized Gilmore for leaving him with a "budget full of gimmicks." Gilmore countered that he left a "balanced budget."
Trust and Honesty 11:18 a.m.
Gilmore is trying to steer the debate toward trust and honesty, pointing out to the audience what he considers to be Warner's flip-flopping on the issue of exploratory drilling for oil and on raising taxes. Warner says he is eager for the voters to decide whom they trust more, pointing to what he considers to be his record of coming up with bi-partisan solutions to problems he says were created by Gilmore.
Raising Money 11:20 a.m.
The audience laughed and groaned at a question asked of Gilmore: Whether his personality was one reason he was struggling for campaign dollars. A wealthy venture capitalist who co-founded Nextel, Warner is far ahead in fundraising.
At the end of June, he had $5 million in the bank. Gilmore, a former leader of the Republican National Committee, had $117,000. Gilmore did not answer, calling the question "political." But he reminded the audience his campaign was airing costly TV ads and that he was "grateful" for small donors.
-Foreign Policy 11:25 a.m.
Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News switches the debate to foreign policy, but Gilmore and Warner still manage to bring that back to their tenures as governors. Gilmore and Warner clashed on whether Warner ever outright said the troops in Iraq should come home next year. Gilmore wants the troops to stay as long as needed.
Roads and Rails
The debate has shifted to transportation. Warner blasted Gilmore for politicizing the Virginia Department of Transportation and endangering some major projects, such as the Springfield Mixing Bowl. He said his administration fixed the problems at VDOT. Gilmore took offense at the suggestion that he mismanaged VDOT and said his administration was responsible for getting major transportation projects started. He blasted Warner for raising taxes....
Roads and Rails Continued11:32 a.m.
When asked about Dulles Rail, Warner said he would love to see a tunnel -- rather than elevated tracks -- built under Tysons Corner, but that was impossible with the federal government's standards for funding part of the project.
He said the federal government has been disingenuous. "It should not be taking this 25 years,'' Warner said. Warner then steered the answer to his "on time and on budget" transportation budget. Gilmore said Warner's suggestion that his transportation projects were costly and took too long were "outrageous."
Warner said he would be happy to share documents showing the mix ups on the Mixing Bowl under Gilmore.
Taxes, Taxes, Taxes 11:45 a.m.
Gilmore is relentlessly pounding away on Warner for raising taxes when he said he wouldn't. He also brought up his signature effort as governor -- the car tax.
Gilmore campaigned on eliminating the personal property tax on cars, but budget shortfalls kept the tax from being fully eliminated during his administration.
He said Warner said during his own campaign for governor that he would fully eliminate it. Gilmore blamed Warner that that never happened.
Warner blamed Gilmore for underestimating the impact of the tax cut on services and contributing to a state budget shortfall that eventually topped $6 billion. With help from moderate Republicans, Warner pushed through a $1.4 billion tax increase in 2004 to balance the budget and preserve money for education and social service.
Dodging Debates? 11:47 a.m.
Warner dodged a question about whether he ducked debates in the race. But he insists he does not underestimate Gilmore, whom he called tenacious campaigner, even though Gilmore is far behind in the polls.
Bush's Tax Cuts 11:56
Warner said the Bush tax cuts should expire for the wealthiest Americans, such as himself. Gilmore, who touted tax relief during his tenure, said he wants to keep President Bush's tax cuts. He called it a relief for the middle class.
Praise Between Opponents Noon:
Schapiro asked the candidates to point to a policy or accomplishment of their opponents' that they respect.
Warner said he has respect for Gilmore and work he has done on homeland security. "He is a tenacious campaigner who has very strongly held views," Warner said.
Gilmore praised Warner too.
When the moderator asked for a rebuttal, the candidates allowed the praise to go unanswered. The audience laughed.
An Unannoying Cell Phone 12:02
One of the funniest moments of the debate came when a cell phone went off during Warner's closing statement. Warner, who made millions in cell phone industry, joked about it and didn't seem to mind that happened...
Closing Statements 12:05
In their three-minute closing statements, both candidates touted their records as governor,
Warner also talked about health care, infrastructure and energy.
"We've got a real record of results," Warner said.
But Gilmore said "it would not do" for Warner to misrepresent his record. "I kept my word" as governor, Gilmore said.
-- Anita Kumar
By Tim Craig |
September 19, 2008; 6:23 AM ET
| Category:
Anita Kumar
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Posted by: GrandArch | September 19, 2008 11:30 AM
I think Jim Gilmore did a good job. He is honest and trustworthy. He kept his word even with the tragedy of 9-11 to deal with he held the line on spending and continued to cut taxes. Mark Warner continues to tell the boldfaced lie about being left a budget out of balance. And he used this lie to justify a 1.4 billion tax hike after promising over and over again when running against Mark Early not to raise taxes. Gilmore has a record of standing up against his own party when they wanted to raise taxes and increase spending in Virginia. He is the kind of thoughtful man we need during these economic trying times. A man we can trust when the going gets tough.
Posted by: Mael | September 20, 2008 2:50 PM
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Lies and half-truths:
Did anyone notice that this debate contained several lies and half-truths? The effect of off-shore drilling on energy prices was assumed to be huge. The CBO and several other credible non-partisan sources say there's no effect until 2013, and then only a few cents. Similarly, Gilmore talked about Barak Obama's tax plan raising taxes on the middle class. As you can see from the graph at http://chartjunk.karmanaut.com/taxplans/, unless you define the middle class as everyone making more than $600K per year, Obama's plan doesn't raise taxes. And unless you're talking about the richest 8% of the population, Obama's plan lowers your taxes more than McCain's.
It might have been useful to have a moderator who would simply inform the audience and the candidates when they were backing up their points with errors.