Posted on 09/27/2002 4:17:54 AM PDT by Lil'freeper
The candidate of the racist party speaks.
It was my understanding from the thread last night that KKT had confused Medicaid and Medicare, and that Ehrlich pointed that out. If that's true, I wonder why the article doesn't mention it.
The plan in the WP today indicates that she's very willing to raise cigarette taxes. I guess she's willing to lose the smoker vote in MD. (I wonder, rhetorically, where raising the cigarette tax would hit hardest, proportionally-speaking. The answer should be obvious. Yes, Dems certainly care more about blacks than the GOP, don't they?)
Townsend, Ehrlich Square Off Over Gun Control, School Funding
Gun crime and education funding were two issues that emerged in the second half of tonight's debate between Robert Ehrlich and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.
Ehrlich says he would support Project Exile, a Virginia program that imposes stiff penalties on violent criminals caught with guns. The Republican congressman says the program reduces gun crime while taking the air out of the gun-control debate.
Lieutenant Governor Townsend says her administration has successfully reduced gun crime, and it wants to go further. She says the gun-control measures her administration has fought for have cut the crime rate.
Ehrlich called the issue of school vouchers a "non-starter" in Maryland, while Townsend pointed out that he has supported vouchers in the past. She says she doesn't want to take money away from public schools.
Political analysts say Townsend had the edge over Ehrlich in the gubernatorial debate. Johns Hopkins University political science professor Matthew Crenson says Townsend did remarkably well -- partly because expectations were so low. Townsend has a history of embarrassing verbal blunders.
Crenson says the lieutenant governor was animated and forthright, and got her message out. He says Ehrlich was less specific in his answers and came across as "a locker-room wiseguy."
Ronald Walters, who teaches government and politics at the University of Maryland, agreed. He says the Republican congressman acted "like a petulant young man" and was on the defensive for much of the debate.
Walters says Townsend had a good command of the facts and was "more gubernatorial in style."
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