Posted on 08/28/2002 1:38:44 PM PDT by missanne
Hutchinson, Pryor go head to head Incumbent, challenger for U.S. Senate seat debate issues BY MICHAEL ROWETT ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT GAZETTE
CONWAY — The two nominees for Arkansas’ U.S. Senate seat agreed Tuesday on the use of force against Iraq but disagreed on raising the minimum wage, welfare reform and which side is to blame for the negative tenor of the Senate campaign.
U.S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson and Attorney General Mark Pryor fielded 13 questions. The topics included prescription drugs, corporate crimes and slavery reparations during an hour-long question-and-answer forum broadcast live statewide by television and radio from Hendrix College’s Staples Auditorium.
Hutchinson, a Republican, faces Pryor, the Democratic nominee, in the Nov. 5 election.
Both candidates touted the forum as a way to focus voters’ attention on the issues, but they blamed each other for the rash of negative attack ads that have dominated the state’s airwaves for months.
The exchange that provoked the most audience reaction began with a Pryor remark about ads run by Hutchinson and the state Republican Party.
"I was completely prepared for them to distort my record," Pryor said. "But I was not prepared for him to distort his own record."
In response, Hutchinson referred to a Pryor ad in which the candidate described himself as "frugal" when it came to taxpayer money and his wife said a better description was "cheap."
"Mark, your wife said you’re cheap, and you said you’re frugal," Hutchinson said. "I think your wife is right. That sure was a cheap shot."
This elicited a round of applause and cheers from Hutchinson supporters in the audience and boos from Pryor’s supporters.
Pryor took issue with a state GOP ad that questions his support for production of the Patriot PAC-3 missile in East Camden. Pryor says he supports production of the missile.
Hutchinson responded that since Pryor hasn’t issued unequivocal support for a national missile defense system, of which the Patriot could form a part, Pryor support remains questionable. Pryor retorted that he supports a missile defense system with two caveats: that it fit into the nation’s strategic defense network and "that it will work."
Pryor, who said the state Republican Party attacked first, made reference to comments from the party’s executive director when Pryor announced for the seat that Pryor couldn’t get a job as a busboy at Taco Bell restaurant if he didn’t have a famous last name.
Hutchinson said that he disavowed this remark, but Pryor hasn’t done the same with gibes like a recent one from the chairman of the Democratic Committee about Hutchinson’s 1999 divorce and marriage a year later to a former aide.
DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe told the state Democratic Convention that Hutchinson, because of his personal situation, would be a hypocrite if he ever lectured Democrats about values.
In response to a question asking how voters should judge his divorce and remarriage, Hutchinson described the breakup of his first marriage as "the greatest failure of my life." Hutchinson said that he "let a lot of people down" but has asked those people for their forgiveness, and the experience has given him a better understanding of other people’s problems.
Pryor said he wasn’t going to talk about Hutchinson’s private life and used his time instead to stress that "Jesus Christ is the largest influence in my life."
Hutchinson said he has voted in favor of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would outlaw burning of the U.S. flag. Pryor said the Constitution was "not exactly sacred" but it is a document that should be amended rarely.
On abortion, Pryor said he personally opposes it but supports allowing it in cases of rape or incest and to save the life of the mother. Hutchinson noted his longtime opposition to abortion and noted that Pryor in his 1998 campaign for attorney general had described himself as "pro-choice" out of political expediency.
Pryor said Hutchinson was referring to an interview with Pryor’s church pastor that was intended only for members of the church. The interview was posted for a time on the church’s Web site.
On Iraq, both candidates agreed that President Bush has legal authority to order an attack against Saddam Hussein but should seek a resolution of support from Congress as a show of bipartisanship and a desire to reach consensus.
They also agreed that reparations from the federal government aren’t the best way to alleviate the sins of slavery. They said they would not support reparations.
The candidates parted ways on the benefits of raising the minimum wage and what welfare reform re-authorization Congress should pass.
Hutchinson said he opposes raising the minimum wage because it does little to help working families. Pryor said the senator has voted seven times against raising the minimum wage, and the attorney general says that position shows insensitivity to the plight of working Arkansans.
On welfare reform, Hutchinson said he supports the bill advanced by the Bush administration, which would require welfare recipients to work a full 40-hour work week, not counting other work-related activities. Current law requires 30 hours of work and work-related activities.
Pryor said he supports an alternative introduced by Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and John Breaux, D-La., to increase the number of work-related hours per week to 40 but would require 30 hours of actual work.
The candidates were questioned by a panel of journalists from The Associated Press, the Arkansas Radio Network, the Stephens Media Group and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Also, moderator Cary Martin of KATV, Channel 7, asked Pryor and Hutchinson questions also based on queries submitted on KATV’s Web site.
With the Senate divided among 50 Democrats, 49 Republicans and one independent, the Hutchinson-Pryor race is one of the most competitive in the nation. A Zogby International poll this month commissioned by the Democrat-Gazette showed Hutchinson leading Pryor by fewer than three percentage points, within the poll’s margin of error.
During the debate, Hutchinson said several times that he and Pryor needed to debate again to give Arkansans more opportunity to compare their records and answers to important questions.
Pryor in an interview afterward said he "was looking forward to doing it again. I don’t know when the next one is scheduled, but I’m ready to do it again."
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