Posted on 10/23/2002 9:05:26 AM PDT by dittomom
Republican Matt Salmon came out firing in a gubernatorial debate Tuesday night, saying Democrat Janet Napolitano "should come clean" on raising taxes and calling her views on abortion "extreme."
Napolitano, who now enjoys a slight lead in several statewide polls, shot back by accusing Salmon of "sucking $500 million" from public schools when he served in the Arizona Legislature during the 1990s. She said Salmon's tax-cutting philosophy as a state senator helped put Arizona in a huge fiscal crisis.
After the one-hour debate that was broadcast live on Channel 8 (KAET), the two leading candidates took turns blasting each other to reporters as they stood only 10 feet apart. Salmon castigated Napolitano on everything from taxes to her stand on gay adoption.
"I will not raise your taxes; my opponent has said she will," said Salmon, referring to Napolitano. "She advocates for gay adoption and gay marriage. She needs to come clean and tell the voters where she will raise taxes."
Napolitano scoffed at Salmon's insinuation that she's a tax-and-spend liberal.
"I say, 'Matt, Matt, Matt, there you go again.' He's trying to scare people," Napolitano said. "I will not raise income taxes."
Recent polls show Napolitano leading the race by 7 to 16 points.
Most of the debate, sponsored by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, focused on taxes and abortion. Salmon is anti-abortion, and a big fan of tax cuts. Napolitano is pro-choice, and more of a centrist on fiscal issues. She is the only one of the four gubernatorial candidates that opposes parental consent and a mandatory 24-hour waiting period for abortions.
"I respect a woman's right to choose," Napolitano said. "These are all things that are done to undercut the right of a woman's right to choose. It is the most intimate decision a woman can make."
Salmon pounced on the abortion issue whenever it popped up.
"She supports abortion on demand, in any way, shape or form," Salmon said. "There are folks out there that gave have abortion for gender selection. And Janet apparently supports that, too."
A Napolitano spokeswoman called the comment "absurd" and said that does not reflect Napolitano's stance.
Independent Richard Mahoney called parental notification a "common sense law." Libertarian Barry Hess agreed.
Mahoney, who is stuck in single digits in most polls, said Napolitano's budget plan doesn't go far enough.
"I would encourage you to come up with real numbers and real cuts, Janet," Mahoney said. "Just creating a commission to look at everything is not enough. . . . "
As the subject shifted to Arizona's fiscal mess, there was plenty of disagreement. Napolitano said she would close some "special interest tax loopholes" or sales tax exemptions that industries, such as telemarketers and massage parlors, now enjoy.
"Closing loopholes on the sex industry will raise peanuts, and you know it," Salmon said.
Survey finds dead heat for Napolitano, Salmon
FLAGSTAFF - Although recent polls suggest the opposite, Matt Salmon and Janet Napolitano are deadlocked in their efforts to become the next governor, according to a recent survey's findings. The survey said the race is a tatistical dead heat among likely voters with 41 percent support of likely voters supporting Salmon and 38 percent supporting Napolitano.
More than half of likely voters said the economy is the most important issue facing the next governor of Arizona. Many are concerned with the state being able to balance the budget next year.
The Grand Canyon State Poll was conducted by the Social Research Laboratory at Northern Arizona University Sept 26-29. The survey was conducted by telephone with 569 randomly selected, likely voters from throughout Arizona. Results are accurate within plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.
IMHO, Richard Mahoney can go to the devil. His advertisements are sick, to say the least.
I've got more phone calls to make for Matt's campaign. We're working on it from this front.
Barry Hess will end up with more votes than Mahoney.
Speaking of phone calls, Slip, you would have been proud of dittokid last week. She answered a call asking if she or anyone in the household were likely to vote on November 5th. Of course she said yes. Then she proceded to answer a whole bunch of questions about the governor's race and she told them that she thought Matt Salmon's ads were much more positive that those of the other candidates because he says what he'll do as governor, whereas the other candidates only speak negatively of their opponents.
There's going to be a women's rally for Matt at the Capitol tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM and then in Tucson at the Doubletree at 1:30 pm Cyndi McCain and Betsey Bayless will head it up.
There will also be a rally at the University Marriott in Tucson at 5:30 pm before the final debate.
GO, MATT, GO!!!
I can't believe Arizona would elect El Napo!!!
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