It is rare in politics to find opponents on opposite ends of the spectrum on virtually every issue. This Nov. 5, however, voters will be presented with this scenario when asked to choose between Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin and Republican challenger Ron Greer for the District House of Representatives race.
Although the crowd was sparse at the Pyle Center Saturday morning, those who came to the public forum were given straightforward and unscripted answers to issues of local and national concern posted by various audience members. In a public forum, audience members are allowed to ask the candidates one question. This question is written down on an index card and given to the moderator, who then selects some questions and presents them to the candidates. Each participant is given two minutes to answer the question.
A hot issue at this forum was the situation in Iraq and the seemingly imminent war. The candidates were given the task of explaining how they would attempt to persuade President Bush from war. Baldwin explained her hard and public stance against the president and the idea of invading Iraq. She said she believes “a preemptive war would be very dangerous.”
Greer, on the other hand, said he believes war is necessary to keep the peace and end global terrorism. He emphasized his support for the president and said he would progress toward war even faster than the current pace if he could.
His view is the terrorists should be removed from Iraq “in chains or in plastic bags; it doesn’t matter to me.”
The candidates were later asked how they would rebuild the Iraqi government if the current government were overthrown. While Baldwin said she believes the United States should play an integral role in rebuilding the government, dedicating “incredible resources” to rebuilding Iraq and the Iraqi government, Greer said he believes once Iraq is no longer a threat to the United States, it is no longer our responsibility.
“The Iraqi people are capable of building a government,” Greer said.
Another important issue to the Madison audience was the environment. The candidates were asked their opinions on global warming and how they intended to slow it. Baldwin explained she felt the best way to help the environment in the House of Representatives during the present administration is to oppose any Bush legislation on the environment.
Greer, however, said he believes the president is doing a good job with the environment.
He said he supports the president’s skepticism of global warming. “I’m still not buying the whole global-warming thing,” Greer said.
Another point of interest at the forum was American policy toward third-world countries.
Greer said he believes the way to control AIDS in Africa is to promote abstinence; he said he believes condoms are the antithesis of abstinence education. “[We must] stop exporting our obsession with sexual activity,” Greer said.
Furthermore, Greer said he does not believe the United States should provide aid to many African nations, since “we shouldn’t provide aid to [governments] that support killing people.”
Baldwin spoke differently about this topic.
As a pro-choice candidate, she said she thinks family planning is a good way to control overpopulation and the spread of disease in third-world countries.
“I don’t know when family planning got such a bad reputation,” Baldwin said.
She also explained that many nations spend twice as much on debt repayment to other nations as they do on health care. The United States is the primary country these nations owe money to, and has political pull with other countries to which these nations owe money. Baldwin said she believes the United States should look into debt forgiveness and should persuade other countries to also provide debt forgiveness.
