The Free Lance Star - A Bailout Divide in Senate Debate

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Republican Jim Gilmore, Democrat Mark Warner spar over bailout plan in final Senate debate.

BY CHELYEN DAVIS

The just-passed $700 billion financial bailout in Congress dominated last night's debate between U.S. Senate candidates Mark Warner and Jim Gilmore.

Gilmore, a Republican, cast himself as a candidate who would protect the taxpayer. He hammered the point that he would not have voted for the bailout bill and believes it to be fiscally irresponsible, bringing it up as part of his answer to nearly every question.

"I'm telling you, it was wrong. It is wrong and I would have voted no," Gilmore said. "Sure, there's a crisis and there are problems that have to be dealt with, but not this way."

Warner, the Democrat, painted himself as the candidate who would work with others in Washington for a viable solution to the problem. He said he would have voted for the bailout bill, despite having reservations about some components of it, because immediate action was necessary to shore up the credit markets.

"I don't think the plans were perfect. I've got a lot of problems with the Senate plan in terms of adding in additional pork," Warner said. "But we had to act.

Warner said the bailout bill's passage is "just the first step," and more work will be done in the coming months to make sure taxpayers are protected and repaid.

"Passing a bill really isn't making a change in policy, it's how we implement that," Warner said. "This is a problem that's not going to go away."

The debate was held at a museum in Roanoke, sponsored by the local NBC affiliate. It was broadcast by about a dozen stations statewide and on C-SPAN. It was the third and final scheduled debate between the two former governors before next month's election.

The debate came on the day a Richmond Times-Dispatch poll showed Warner with a 26-point lead in the race.

Taking questions from a moderator and a three-person panel, the two candidates did discuss other topics.

Gilmore said he will oppose earmarks, the money for local projects lawmakers slide into bills. The revised bailout bill contained a number of earmarks.

Warner said he would oppose transportation earmarks because the public is fed up with projects like Alaska's infamous "Bridge to Nowhere." But he said some earmarks are good, as long as they're done out in the open.

If he advocated federal funding for a project, Warner said, "I ought to put my name on it, I ought to be willing to defend it. It ought to be transparent."

Both men were also asked whether they'd support a Supreme Court candidate who did not support Roe v. Wade, the decision that made abortion legal.

Gilmore said he would not, because he believes Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided.

Warner said he supports Roe v. Wade, and would support judicial candidates who are in the mainstream.

Several times, Gilmore accused Warner of "Washington double-talk." He said the Democrat was flip-flopping on issues such as offshore drilling and a definite date to pull troops out of Iraq, and accused Warner of misleading voters with support of a federal bill regarding secret union ballots.

Warner supports a timetable for withdrawal of troops from Iraq; Gilmore does not.

The two men also got into testy exchanges over who was the better fiscal manager as governor, a dispute that has been in their previous debates as well.

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