Richard Pombo listens to opponent Jerry McNerney's remarks during the 11th Congressional District candidates forum at Gladys Poet Christian School in Tracy on Thursday.
Posted on 10/06/2006 3:05:25 PM PDT by SmithL
TRACY - Middle ground went unclaimed Thursday night as Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, sparred with Democratic challenger Jerry McNerney for the 11th District House seat in a charged, partisan debate before a lively crowd, many of them McNerney supporters eager to shake the seven-term GOP stalwart with shouts and accusations.
The debate drew a crowd of more than 300 people to watch the two candidates trade barbs from low plastic chairs on a grade-school stage in the heart of "Pombo Country."
It was the lone debate between the two candidates vying for a House district that stretches from Danville to the San Joaquin Valley.
Topics ranged from the candidates' polar views on the war in Iraq; to the sordid scandal of Florida Rep. Mark Foley and the suggestive messages he allegedly sent to Capitol pages; to energy policy and Pombo's controversial plan to build a freeway from the San Joaquin Valley over Mt. Hamilton to San Jose.
Pombo, calm and measured in a jacket and open-collar shirt to McNerney's suit and red tie, suddenly grew loud and forceful in an unapologetic defense of his vision for a fix to the brutal traffic clog between the two valleys.
"We're sitting in traffic for two hours each way. That's four hours a day you can't spend with your family," said Pombo. "The people who live in this district, the people who have to fight that traffic every day, want a freeway going over the hill."
McNerney, a Pleasanton wind energy consultant making his second challenge to the seven-term Tracy rancher, sought to paint Pombo as a proxy for the Bush administration, particularly on the war in Iraq.
His supporters joined in, shooting accusations and mocking laughter at Pombo as he spoke.
Pombo, 45, referring to a recent intelligence report that claims the Iraq war has fueled the terrorist threat, was unwavering in his support for the Bush policy, saying he didn't believe the war has "strengthened or weakened" Iran..
"I believe if we don't continue to fight and have a stable Iraq, that the terrorists will follow our troops home," said Pombo, later adding, "I would rather take the war there than fight it here."
McNerney, 55, who supports a timetable for troop withdrawal, called the Bush policy on Iraq "a tragic mistake," likening it to "Mafioso" - style foreign policy.
"Wanting to kill them over there rather than kill them over here is Tony Soprano logic. It's Tony Soprano morality. We cannot be the world's bully."
In their bid to win back the House majority, Democrats are trying to paint Pombo, the chairman of the House Resources Committee, as a softening target slathered in the taint of GOP fundraising scandals.
Pombo backers, meanwhile, tag McNerney as a waffler, noting that after the April primary, he revised several answers on a candidate questionnaire.
On Thursday, Pombo tried to parry implications that he is tied into fundraising scandals that have hit GOP leaders, most notably the one involving disgrace tribal lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Pombo again dismissed the idea that he and Abramoff were close, and noted that he gave money he received from Abramoff to charity.
"There were guys who did things wrong. I wasn't one of them," he said.
The differences between the two candidates are starkly partisan. McNerney opposes opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling; Pombo is a champion. Pombo supports the Bush administration plan to open Social Security to private investment accounts. McNerney sees it as too risky.
Pombo, a devout property rights advocate, touted his work trying to reduce foreign-oil dependency, and touted the transportation funding he helped deliver to the district last year.
Environmentalists have taken to vilifying Pombo for his hoped-for reforms to the Endangered Species Act and his support to open ANWR to drilling.
Pombo argued that alternative energy sources such as solar and wind technology were a valuable long-term solution, but that all energy sources must be tapped.
McNerney, arguing for a more progressive push for alternative energy, said the nation is "not going to be able to drill our way out of this problem."
McNerney, an underfunded underdog, faces a difficult path to take Pombo's seat in a district where Republicans hold a 7 percentage point registration edge.
He is the underfunded underdog, getting scant financial backing from Democratic party leaders, while Pombo sports a beefy warchest and ample advertising support from the National Republican Congressional Committee. Pombo's committee reported $939,000 in the bank as of June 30, six times that of McNerney.
The biggest anti-Pombo thrust comes from the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, which has spent nearly a quarter million dollars bashing him.
It is, Pombo admitted before the debate, the most attention paid to a race against him since he won the newly formed district in 1992.
And there you have it. The eco-whackos absolutely hate Pombo.
This is another reason for term limits. We should all get a turn at getting rich.
Thank you Richard Pombo!
I wish he was my congresscritter.
Well he is my congresscritter and I was there at the debate, if you want to call it that. The article fails to mention that right at the first Pombo, in his opening statement, asked his supporters among the standing-room only crowd to refrain from booing his opponent. His opponent didn't do the same thing at any point and the McNerney supporters were disruptive and disrespectful most of the time Pombo was speaking. The place was filled with press and I was disappointed at how much real debate was shut down by McNerney's supporters' fascists tactics. And at no point in the 90-minute debate did McNerney ask his supporters to calm down.
As for McNerney, he was in Pombo country and he spent a great deal of time tearing down Pombo instead of speaking to his stance on issues. Little wonder Pombo doesn't like to debate this opponent if he refuses to control his supporters. The guy and his supporters had no class as far as I was concerned.
Pombo's supporters clapped and encouraged Pombo but they did not try to disrupt McNerney.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.