U.S. Rep. Ron Klein and Republican challenger Allen West got a chance to clarify their records and positions during a live, web-streamed debate Monday morning. WPTV Channel 5 hosted the debate and reporters from the Palm Beach Post and the Palm Beach Daily News asked the questions.
For weeks the two candidates have been battling it out over the television airwaves with attack ads trying to convince voters why the other candidate is the wrong choice for congressional seat 22. Klein has tried to paint West as a right-wing extremist while West continually reminds voters of Klein's support of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
George Bennett from the Palm Beach Post fired the first question at Klein. He pointed out that all of Klein's ads are attacks on West instead of talking about his own issues. "Should voters assume you're afraid to talk about your own record?" Bennett asked.
Klein responded vaguely by saying we need to focus on jobs, and look at a 10-year plan "where we can do some things," and then promptly began criticizing West for the remainder of his time.
Later in the debate, Michele Dargan from the Palm Beach Daily News asked Klein to explain why he voted with Pelosi 98 percent of the time despite the fact that polls show the majority of Americans think the country is on the wrong track.
"There are different points of view," Klein said. "It's easy to go back and say what you wouldn't have done." He continued to explain that, at the time, the country was facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and that many were predicting apocalyptic disaster if things like the large corporate bailouts and stimulus package didn't pass.
"I listened to the people who said, 'don't let this disaster happen,'" Klein said.
West also had to play a little defense.
An unpaid tax lien, a handful of homeowner association liens, and an unpaid American Express bill have been fodder for Klien's attack ads against West. The first-time candidate defended himself by saying all those debts had now been paid.
Bennett asked if voters should be concerned about a person who has a history of creditors taking him to court for unpaid liens and taxes.
"They shouldn't be concerned about that," said West. "Because I take care of my responsibilities." He then continued to tout his 22-year military service, and character he's developed from it.
Other attack ads against West show the candidate at an event telling people, "You must be well-informed and well-armed because this government that we have now is a tyrannical government."
West said he was speaking metaphorically at a 2009 revolution rally. It was an event that featured men dressed in continental uniforms, and took an historical perspective from the Revolutionary War. He compared our times to those times and encouraged those in the rally to "fight against a tyranny that we're seeing now." He used health care law as one example saying, "It was being pushed and pushed and it was rammed down their throats.
"I'm not the scary boogyman Klein is making me out to be."
