Senate Debate Starts on Economic Issues

With the election little more than a week away, on Sunday morning the three leading candidates running for the U.S. Senate clashed in a debate that opened with a discussion on the state's continued economic problems.

With Republican candidate Marco Rubio leading in the polls by double digits, Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running with no party affiliation, and Democratic nominee U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek took the gloves off and went after Rubio, trying to cut down his lead.

The debate was held at the University of South Florida in Tampa and was hosted by Candy Crowley of CNN, the network that broadcasted the debate. Crowley was joined by Adam Smith of the St. Petersburg Times.

Crowley started by citing the high unemployment rate and asked Crist what his responsibility was, noting the unemployment rate went from 3 percent when he took office back in January 2007 to 11.9 percent in September.

This is a global economic problem, insisted Crist. Theres plenty of blame to go around. Crist said the continuing economic crisis was why he backed the federal stimulus package supported by President Barack Obama.

Meek also defended the stimulus and attacked Rubio for not backing the measure. Its not necessarily the silver bullet, said Meek who insisted that it helped things from getting worse in the Sunshine State. Meek said he had faith in the White House and its advisers.

Rubio made no excuses for opposing the stimulus and launched into a condemnation of the Obama economic policies, including taking aim at new federal health-care laws. I dont believe the economy grows because of government spending, said Rubio.

I think both views are correct, added Crist -- praising the idea of cutting taxes and pushing free-market solutions while insisting the stimulus was needed at the time. The governor tried to portray himself as a realist instead of an ideologue.

Meek picked up this line of attack, accusing Rubio of following an ideology.

Rubio countered arguing that the economy was not being harmed by cutting taxes but by government policy. Its not ideology, its reality, fired back Rubio.