Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Debate Emphasizes Policy Talk

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By ZAC ANDERSON

Candidates for the District 13 Congressional seat gave their final televised pitch to voters Thursday.

There were almost no attacks or back-and-forth between the candidates, just straight policy talk.

The candidates were less scripted when asked whether they supported the government directly purchasing bad mortgages at face value.

Rep. Vern Buchanan blamed "liberal" federal lending regulations for the foreclosure problem. "Whatever we do, I want to do it just for working families. Not speculators. Flippers. We've had a lot of those in this area."

Jennings said the government should encourage banks to work with people before they are foreclosed on. "We need to get a new appraisal on the property" and renegotiate the loans, Jennings said.

Don Baldauf, no party affiliation, also said the loans should be renegotiated. Jan Schneider, no party affiliation, said she opposes buying the loans at face value.

"It's not fair to other homeowners that have either lost their homes or are struggling to make paychecks," Schneider said.

The lack of combativeness was a change from last week's debate, with Democrat Christine Jennings took a tough line against first-term Republican Congressman Vern Buchanan, exciting a boisterous crowd at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus.

The debate's moderator threatened to call security at one point.

Thursday's debate was held in a small television studio and only a handful of reporters and the candidates' staff members were in the room.

The intimate atmosphere seemed to evoke a more measured response from the candidates.

Topics like oil drilling and the Iraq war evoked well-worn answers.

Buchanan does not support a timetable for bringing the troops home, while Jennings said she would end the war as soon as possible.

Both candidates say they want to protect Medicare and Social Security from cuts or privatization, and both oppose additional oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

The final debate in the District 13 race will be today at the South County Tiger Bay Club.

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