4:05 p.m.: Welcome to I Don’t Hate America’s liveblog coverage of the US Senate candidate debate from Prior Lake High School in Savage, MN. Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, Al Franken, and Mike Ciresi have taken their seats. Each candidate will give a five minute opening statement. Each candidate will have three minutes to answer each question with an optional one minute rebuttal. Jim Cohen has just taken his seat. The chair of the DFL in the Second District, Jeanne Thomas, is moderating the debate. There is one microphone, and they will all pass it to one another. Great. Legislators present include Rep. Sandy Mason and Sen. Jim Carlson, both of Eagan.
4:10 p.m.:Nelson-Pallmeyer (wow that is going to get old, so I’ll just refer to him as JNP) is giving his opening statement and reasons for running. He says this administration is the worst in history, which wins applause. He said it isn’t enough to talk about how bad the Bush administration is. He says Jim Hanson from NASA says the decisions made in the next 10 years will affect the quality of life for future generations. JNP criticizes the US’s military spending, which is half of that spent in the world. JNP notes his salary from teaching at St. Thomas went down $4,000 due to changes in his health care plan. JNP says we are robbing from our children and our grandchildren because of our policy choices, which gains applause, even from Franken. JNP advocates single payer health care and elimination of no child left behind. Time of fear and despair can be turned into hope, he says.
Jim Cohen is giving his opening speech. Says hes spent his life advocating at the grass roots level building and leading organizations. He says he has learned over the course of his work is the way to get things done is to listen to people, not polarize. Cohen is standing while giving his speech. Says it is disgraceful that we do not have universal health care, and notes he and JNP are the two who advocate for immediate single payer health care. Cohen would role back the tax cuts for the wealthy and put that toward domestic polices. Says we should get out of Iraq now and redirect the money from war and build jobs. Advocates for employee free choice. Says we can do it, but we can listen to those who’s ideological concerns may differ from us. Is a proud Democrat, but thinks instead of talking about red states and blue states, we should worry about red, white and blue states.
4:16 p.m.:Says we need to cut back on CO2 emissions…now. He is convinced we can do this as “bold, aggressive progressives” but also need to listen and get results. Pleas for attendees to get involved in the caucuses. It should be noted that the DFL central committee earlier today voted to remove the mandatory preference poll for the Senate race. Franken is giving his speech now.
4:20 p.m. Franken introduced his wife Frannie, to applause. Franken speaks of his college tour and says that freshman in Mankato he spoke with were 11 years old when George W. Bush was elected president. They were didn’t know it was possible for a president to be articulate, he says to applause. He notes he visited the turbine at the U of Minnesota Morris and is advocating for “green collar” jobs.
4:25 p.m. Ciresi is now giving his speech and he too introduces his wife, Ann, to applause. Talks about how great the high school we are now in and wishes all students could have a high school this great. I guess he must not have been told about the failure of the referendum. He talks about those who came before him that believed in the American dream which lead to a government that reflected our values. Speaks of the change in the 1960s with the advent of civil rights. Notes he too talked to college students and while they don’t despair they want leadership… that they want leaders who ask “what can we do to make our lives better.” He says affordable, accessible health insurance is a right. Says we should all have education. Notes of students graduating with $100k of debt, a mortgage before even buying a house.
He talks about who he has represented as a lawyer and says he fought to create a level playing field in this state.
4:30 p.m.: The first question is whether the candidates will abide by the endorsement. Cohen says absolutely under all circumstances. Cohen is talking about the ability to be pragmatic and look across the aisle and avoid partisan bickering. He says we have raised the minimum wage to the “miniscule” wage. Calls affordable health care a moral and constitutional right. Says “ABC,” Anybody But Coleman.
4:32 p.m. Franken jokes “I’m going to leave you all in suspense by not answering the question until the end of my three minutes.” He goes on to say he will. He talks about the work he has done for veterans and soldiers, such as using his show to raise money for helmet liners for the Marines as an example of what he has done in his career, probably in response to statements from Ciresi about asking what each candidate has done.
4:35 p.m.: Ciresi says 1.8 million vets don’t have health insurance, four million people if you count their families. Those who have paid the price in this war are those that served and their families, not the wealthy people that can afford it. The common good means everyone of us has the opportunity to reach the full measure of our potential. What is our obligation in this nation to let them reach the potential, he asks. Says we need to make a commitment to take care of each and every veteran. He asks, the day before Veterans Day, that we think about how 25 percent of all homeless are vets.
JNP says it’s important for each candidate to abide by the endorsement so that whoever the candidate is, he has five months to rally and beat Norm Coleman.
4:41 p.m.:The debate was advertised as having 450 seats availiable; probably two thirds of those are full. Next question is about how we get to universal health care. Al Franken says not having universal health care costs us money. WHA ranks America 37th in the world, behind Costa Rica and Slovenia. Franken says he doesn’t think we can get to single payer health care like Cohen and JNP do. Franken thinks that the people who do like their health care will be scared by pharmaceutical companies. He would like to get to single payer health care for all kids because kids don’t cost as much as seniors and this way we can test whether single payer works. He suggests a five year study to see if it works. Like a radio host throwing it to the traffic guy, he “throws it” to Ciresi.
4:44 p.m.: Ciresi advocates for a health care plan similar to those pushed by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Says we should create a national healthcare administration. Says he would pay for it by repealing the Bush tax cuts and closing off-shore tax loopholes. Says we can do it but it takes political will. Says under a Democratic president, we will fix social security then create a universal health care system.
4:47 p.m.:JNP says healthcare is a public good like education. Says we need to have a conversation about what people want from their healthcare. Disagrees with Franken’s position of letting the states have control. He thinks the healthcare system should not be for profit. Says the rich and powerful have insulated themselves from paying their fair share of taxes and says when he is the Junior Senator from Minnesota, the rich and powerful will pay their fair share, which gets a loud cheer.
4:55 p.m.: Cohen wants to eliminate the 37 percent slush fund which is breaking the back of small business. Says we should roll back the tax cuts for the wealthy and focus on preventative medicine and that way we can pay for it now. Says education, fire, police and healthcare are all rights which shouldn’t depend on someone deciding if they can afford them or not. Says a single payer system will be successful if it is a system built on prevention. He says it is time for our leadership to “get where the people are and have the guts and the courage to propose this system now.” Says the HMO’s stock options for their executives are disgraceful while the employee’s pensions are cut.
Franken pats Cohen on the shoulder and says “I’m going to be a pragmatic progressive.” Ciresi says we can’t talk about this in four minutes because of so many variables. Look at the caps on Medicare, he says. Like Franken, he is concerned about those who like the health care they have now. Says value is more important than how many payers there are going to be. JNP says infectious disease is a reason to look for national health care. Says the system now is to not go to the doctor because people have to pay. It’s a built in incentive to not goto the doctor, he calls it. Says a single payer system would not only save money, but save lives. Cohen says we need to be pragmatic, but we need to be leaders too. Why can’t the great United States Of America lead the world to reduce our healthcare costs? Notes there is a bill already in the Congress, HR 676 that will lead us to a single payer system.
5:03 p.m.:Next question is what you would do about no child left behind and what the federal government’s role in education would be. Ciresi says he would eliminate NCLB. He says early childhood education and good nutrition help kids succeed. To applause, he says that we should help districts that are struggling, not take away their funding. “Only the rich deserve education?” he quips. Speaks of the unfunded mandates all the way down from the president, the governor, and to the district. Says education is our backbone and critical.
JNP talks about how he has respect for the public school system, but it is fraying in large part due to NCLB. He supports mainstreaming kids with disabilities, but it needs to be funded, which gets applause. Speaks of how NCLB is punitive. Says NCLB tests have taken the creativity out of teaching and hears complaints from teachers. Speaks of Congress’s appropriation of 57 percent to war and four percent to education. Says if we cut the military budget by ten percent we can fund early childhood education. Says we should not be funding public education with property taxes but rather at the state and federal levels. Says Coleman and Bush have set out to undermine public education as their plan to privatize the common good.
Cohen says NCLB should be done away with immediately. He says the program has good goals but they can’t be met because the federal government hasn’t met its goals, such as funding of special education. Says education is the best form of investment we can make. Says it’s not just bridges falling down, but education falling down. Notes he is a certified teacher and that we should pay them what they deserve. Says we should provide them with the kind of mentoring and development skills to keep them as teachers, as so many of them leave the profession early on. Says we are in the middle of a disaster for our children. Says we should have a tax structure that doesn’t allow the wealthy to have better schools than those in poorer neighborhoods.
5:16 p.m.: Franken says he would scrap NCLB or fully fund it. Talks of her daughter who was a teacher in the Bronx and how unfair the progress testing is. Says early childhood education is important.
Next question is if a candidate supports establishing a Department of Peace. JNP says he does support it but says if the State dept. is functioning how it should be, a Dept. of Peace would not be necessary. Says again we need reductions in military spending to become more secure. Cohen says he supports in principle a program of peace, but isn’t sure it should be cabinet level. Says diplomacy would lead to peace around the world. Thinks a cabinet level agency would be infiltrated by an administration like that of Bush. Says Dept. of Homeland Security is evidence we are running our government via a “politics of fear.” Says we should be having discussions with Iran and Syria, as this would be a program of optimism, not of polarization.
Franken is against a Dept. of Peace. “Imagine a Dept. of Peace under the Bush administration. Richard Pearle would be the secretary.” Says the President of the United States and Depts. of State and Defense should be the “departments of peace” to keep the peace. Says Iraq has shown unilateralism doesn’t work. Says Clinton tried to get peace between Isreal and Palistine. Says Bush missed a chance when Arafat died to get them to work for peace, and it shows how important it is who we elect to be president.
5:25 p.m.: Ciresi says he is not in favor of a department of peace but rather an administration that is peaceful and we should engage in multilateral diplomacy and have an international peace conference concerning the middle east. Points to his reasons why he thinks we have terrorism: the war is a lightning rod, the Israeli/Palestinian issue, and poverty in the middle east.
JNP says the department would ideally promote conflict resolution and domestic issues. Says we shouldn’t jump toward military solutions and points to all of the things we could have accomplished with the money we are spending in Iraq. Franken says what we are really talking about is how we promote peace. Says we should continue the protocol of continuing nuclear non proliferation. Ciresi says we need to look at the world from a geopolitical point of view and see what our role in that is. Says we will have budget deficits until at least 2012 and choices need to be made about how we raise revenue. He says the day of reckoning is coming as far as the debt.
5:33 p.m.:Next question is about if the candidates support a flat tuition rate for all four years of college and if they think tuition and textbooks should be tax deductible. Cohen says rolling back the tax cuts for the wealthy and if we withdraw from Iraq we can afford higher education for all. Thinks that anybody that wants to goto college should have the opportunity to go and it shouldn’t be an issue of affordability. Says flat tuition, or even a descending tuition rate makes sense. Says that we should engage in every tax incentive possible to get our kids through college. Franken says that the number one cost increase of higher education is in the area of health care. Franken says we should increase the amount of Pell grants. Is in favor of ROTC-type programs for teachers and doctors as this would help pinpoint where our priorities are and would encourage people to go into those fields. Wants a GI bill to pay for college for every vet.
Ciresi would not favor regulation on tuition rates on universities. He says the tuition and textbook deductions should be on the table when the tax code is reformed, as he advocates. Supports a 21st century education fund which would bring interest rates down. Wants to reintroduce an element of public service such as giving loan forgiveness to those who go into areas where they are needed such as health care or education.
5:37 p.m.: JNP says his class at St. Olaf was the last class to have a flat tuition and room and board rate for students. Says the key point is to make college affordable for all citizens. Says he is troubled by approaches that involve tax breaks and even lower interest rates. Says the fundamental problem in this country is inequality in wealth. Says our education system reflects that. Wants funded education from preschool to university. Cohen thinks Pell grants should be increased but other things should be looked at to level the playing field. Favors new solutions but didn’t cite anything specifically.
5:48 p.m.:Next question was if the candidates support NASA funding. Franken says he does because it is part of the human experience and helps find frontiers in technology. Says he is concerned about the war on science by the Bush administration which gets applause. Says that intelligent design and being anti-stem cell research scares scientists away from America. Says we should invest in science, not be at war with science. Ciresi also says he supports more funding of NASA but it depends on other priorities. Notes successes in materials and engineering that have come as a result of NASA. Says human nature is such that it always wants to explore the next area and that is space. Says new development is happening in other places in the world but not America, which leads to a lack of good middle class jobs in America. Says we need to face a budget deficit, so funding of NASA may not continue in the same manner.
JNP says he is for funding of NASA that works on renewable energy. Says that much of NASA’s budget is for the purpose of militarization of space. Says the UN voted to keep space for peaceful purposes and the US was the only “nay” vote. Cohen says he supports NASA budget increases in the same ways cited by the other candidates. Agrees with JNP that we need to look at how much is being spent toward militarizing outer space. Calls for corporative relationships with other countries as opposed to America saying “look, we can dominate space.” Nearly every answer is followed by a round of applause.
5:57 p.m.:We are now onto closing statements, starting with Ciresi. He says we need to go back to worrying about the common good. Says we should reach out, join hands and invest in our future. Says the shift toward self interest started with Reagan. Says he has been a leader in Minnesota for 35 years. Refuses to hear a senator say they can not get anything done in their first term.
Franken thanks the crowd for coming. Says the world will breathe a sigh of relief when Bush is gone. He says it isn’t enough to eliminate him, but we must eliminate his friends like Norm Coleman. Says we will have a working majority in the Senate and a greater majority in the House.
Cohen notes there are 362 days until the election. Talks about finding common good, common values and common sense. Says rhetoric is easy. Encourages voters to look at resumes and see who’s been on the ground fighting for average workers, civil rights and the poor. Cohen says it is him. Says we finally have a chance as a party to take the sixth, third and second Congressional districts. Says he will not only be trustworthy but an effective Senator.
JNP says our country is racing like a car 150 mph over a cliff. Says the solution is not to slow down to 100 mph, but to go down a different path. Says we need to face our problems with honesty and with political courage. Says we need a “new new deal” to focus on the health and infrastructure needs of the country. Says the way we defeat Coleman is to offer a compelling vision for where this country can go, not just by talking about how bad the administration is. Says we can move this country forward.
6:02 p.m.: This concludes our coverage of the US Senate debate. Thanks for joining us.
