The four Republican candidates for U.S. Senate generally agree on most issues facing the nation, with a couple of minor exceptions, and spent most of a debate on Thursday directing most jabs not at each other but at Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson, President Barack Obama and former Gov. Charlie Crist.
The four Senate President Mike Haridopolos, former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, former state Rep. Adam Hasner and retired Army Col. Mike McCalister spent more than an hour and a half staking out positions generally in line with the Republican mainstream in the Senate, from a strong opposition to the federal health-care law, to the general consensus that the federal government spends too much, to toughening the stance against illegal immigrants.
While clearly trying to distance themselves more from better known fall guys like the president and Nelson than from each other, a couple in the field also are trying to hook their star to another thats on the rise with the GOP voters theyre courting: that of Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. Several of the candidates pointed to Rubios positions when explaining where they stood on a number of issues.
The overriding theme was that the federal government spends too much and, above all else, the nation must reduce its deficit. LeMieux said the spiraling federal deficit is the No. 1 threat to America, and said he has a plan to eliminate it, simply returning all federal spending to 2007 levels across the board.
Most of the policy promises were broader, however, though partly because of time constraints.
McCalister, a political newcomer of sorts, particularly compared to the other three, at first gave a muddy answer on dealing with runaway spending, saying were going to have to protect our entitlements, such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, but then saying the nation needs to change the way those programs are managed.
McCalister, who finished third, but with a surprising 10 percent of the vote in last years gubernatorial primary, then got more specific on the budget, saying he supports a recent proposal by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, a redesign of Medicare that has been blasted by Democrats and many seniors though McCalister said he would support some unspecified tweaks to the proposal.
Others on the stage at the annual meeting of the Florida Press Association and Florida Society of News Editors in St. Petersburg also acknowledged that keeping entitlements the same as they are now simply isnt realistic.
Eighty-five percent of the budget is Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and defense, said LeMieux. So thats where the cuts are going to come. ... So everyones going to need to tighten their belts.
Haridopolos also suggested a major change for an expensive entitlement program arguing that the federal government should award block grants to the states to pay for the Medicaid health care program for the poor, rather than requiring certain coverages. Haridopolos noted the Legislature, under his leadership, has already pushed Washington for such ability.
There was a bit of an effort to remind Republican voters of LeMieux connection to Crist. LeMieux was Crists chief of staff when Crist was governor and worked for him in the attorney generals office, as well as orchestrating Crists successful run for governor in 2006.
Hasner was the first to bring up the connection, though subtly. Hasner, a former GOP majority leader in the House who has made opposition to cap-and-trade policies one of his main issues, said that the energy and environment policies in Crists administration were the same as policies pursued by the Obama administration.
Crist and LeMieux were once closely linked, but Crist became a Republican pariah when he left the party to run for the U.S. Senateas an independent, losing to Rubio. LeMieux didnt support him after that.
LeMieux said he was merely an adviser who didnt always agree with the governor and argued that much of Crists move to the political left occurred after LeMieux was no longer working for him. Crist appointed LeMieux to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by former Sen. Mel Martinez, and LeMieux acknowledged he remained grateful to Crist for that.
During the time I was chief of staff I think we did a lot of good things, LeMieux said. After I was in private life at some point he made some decisions to go more toward the left.
The day after Charlie Crist left the Republican Party, I endorsed Marco Rubio, said LeMieux. It was not an easy thing to do, but it was the right thing to do ...I stood by my principles.
Another area of nuanced difference was in the candidates approach to ending United States involvement in Afghanistan. Three of the candidates took the position of some national Republicans that President Obama is moving to draw down troops too quickly, faster than his military advisers want. McCalister was particularly vociferous that military officials ought to be listened to.
Im the only one on the stage who ever wore a uniform or held a top secret clearance, McCalister said. Our politicians need to let the generals win the war and they need to listen to them.
LeMieux and Hasner agreed that a date certain for troop withdrawals wasnt a good idea.
Haridopolos, however, had a slightly different take.
We continue to spend in Afghanistan and Iraq -- I think we need to look at home first. He said he would support a quick and large draw down of U.S. boots on the ground, in favor of a strategy that relies more on surgical strikes and special forces to make quit hits to achieve military goals in the region.
Haridopolos extended his "homeland first" approach by volunteering a position hes against U.S. military involvement in Libya or Syria.
LeMieux said he thought Obama was simply playing to an election year when trying to reduce the U.S. military footprint in Afghanistan, and suggested the U.S. may have a long-term commitment to keep at least some troops in both Afghanistan and Iraq, as it does in South Korea.
Besides Crist, the candidates also took aim heavily at Obama, and particularly the new health-care law he pushed for. All four said it was the wrong approach to trying to deal with the nations uninsured although there was some acknowledgement that part of the law, preventing insurance companies from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions, is popular and correct.
In taking questions from the audience, the panel was asked by a former newspaper editor who fought breast cancer and now cant get insurance, whether they believed in letting insurers deny her coverage.
All said there were other ways besides the new health care law to deal with that issue LeMieux suggested the pre-existing condition ban could be passed by itself.
There is bipartisan support in Washington to not allow insurance companies to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions, LeMieux said.
McCalister said he was particularly sympathetic to the questioners problem he has a pre-existing condition. McCalister said hes hypoglycemic and in the past when changing jobs has been denied coverage.
Weve got to figure out a way to solve that, McCalister acknowledged, though like the others saying he opposes the new health care law.
There was one other slight difference: three of the candidates said they agreed with Gov. Rick Scotts decision to reject federal money for high-speed rail. LeMieux said he believed that since the money was already allocated and was going to go somewhere for rail, Florida ought to have taken it.
The choice here is not between paying down the debt and building this train, the choice was whether this train will be built here or be built somewhere else, LeMieux said.
On other issues:
-- McCalister said he would probably try to eliminate the (U.S.) Department of Education.
-- All four candidates said they dont support a national catastrophe fund, saying the government cant afford its obligations now, and the last thing the nation should do is take on more potential spending requirements.
-- Both McCalister and LeMieux said they havent seen enough credible evidence to believe that humans are causing climate change. Haridopolos and Hasner didnt directly address that issue.
-- Haridopolos said he favors not only block grants to states for Medicaid, but also for education and transportation.
-- All four candidates support use of the E-Verify system for checking the immigration status of job applicants, though Haridopolos said the system isnt perfect and needs some changes.
-- LeMieux and McCalister passed up an opportunity to criticize Haridopolos and Hasner for being part of a Legislature that balanced the states budget by accepting federal stimulus dollars. While LeMieux pointedly mentioned the fact, he said he didnt really blame lawmakers for spending the money since they had it. Hasner said he spoke out against the stimulus plan, and claimed to have led the fight against the one part of the stimulus the state did reject, a plan that would have put $444 million into expanded eligibility for unemployment compensation. I would not have voted for the stimulus; I dont think you can spend yourself out of debt, McCalister said.
-- McCalister said the country needs a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.
The newspaper editors group will hear from Nelson on Friday.
