[media-credit name=’Ben Smidt’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin and Republican Congressional hopeful Dave Magnum quarreled on issues ranging from health care to federal appropriations Monday night at a debate in the Pyle Center. The candidates fielded questions from a moderator and audience members in front of a small but packed auditorium.
Magnum came out in attack mode early, alleging that Baldwin’s stated goal of universal health care is unattainable.
“Rep. Baldwin has had six years on this issue and has nothing tangible to show for it,” Magnum said. “She’s still talking about a concept that even Hillary Clinton gave up on 10 years ago.”
Baldwin, identifying health care as “the passion of my life,” said universal health care can become a reality and suggested states should be allowed to pilot new initiatives like single-payer health plans.
“I believe it is vital that we figure out a way to move forward when we have 45 million people in America who haven’t had insurance in a year, and that is outrageous in the greatest country on earth,” she said.
Baldwin drew large cheers from the audience by declaring deep concern with the Patriot Act and Attorney General John Ashcroft’s interpretation of the Constitution.
“If we are going to be the example to the world, we ought to be an example of a constitutional democracy following the rule of law,” Baldwin said.
Magnum stated support for the act, citing no documented cases of civil-liberty violations stemming from the anti-terrorism measure.
The Republican repeatedly portrayed Baldwin as out of touch with the district, including allegations of Baldwin raising two-thirds of her campaign funds from out of state. The Congresswoman denied Magnum’s accusations, and countered by saying she takes less money from political action committees than the vast majority of Congress members.
“Tammy talks about constituent services. That to me is like being on a football team and saying you should get credit for showing up for practice,” Magnum said. “What I want to do is kick some field goals and score some touchdowns for this district, not just show up for practice.”
Magnum, the owner of eight radio stations throughout Wisconsin, labeled Baldwin an enemy of small business, pointing to several votes throughout her career. He alleged Baldwin failed the state by not bringing federal money back to Wisconsin.
Not so, Baldwin defended, noting her efforts to secure federal dollars for rural hospitals and upgraded technology for law-enforcement agencies.
The debate attracted a standing-room-only crowd in the cozy auditorium. Notably absent, however, was a large student turnout at the campus-area locale.
Still, student coordinators for the campaigns were undeterred.
“I feel like we got a lot of our hardcore supporters out there,” Students for Baldwin chair Jessie Walter said.
Students for Bush co-chair Jessi Schober blamed the small facility and lack of publicity for the meager student attendance but said a high turnout of young Magnum supporters encouraged her.
“What I thought was very interesting was that the majority of student supporters were Magnum supporters and the majority of older adults in the audience were Tammy supporters,” Schober said. “If the amount of students who showed up tonight supporting each of the candidates indicates anything about this election, Magnum people are going to be out in force.”