Politico - Nunn Whacks Perdue in Georgia Forum

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By James Hohmann

Democratic Senate candidate Michelle Nunn debated like the underdog in Georgia Thursday.

After slipping behind in polls following last month's runoff, she came out swinging at Republican David Perdue during a 45-minute forum at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce's annual Congressional luncheon in Macon.

In their first time together on the same stage, the former nonprofit executive attacked Perdue, the former Dollar General CEO, for backing the government shutdown while opposing Common Core, the farm bill and comprehensive immigration reform.

Nunn also tried to distance herself from Barack Obama. She said the president should not issue any executive orders on immigration, chided him for wanting to cut military spending and brought up -- in her opening statement -- that a picture appearing in Republican ads of her standing with Obama is cropped to remove former President George H.W. Bush.

Perdue largely ignored Nunn. He discussed losing his own health insurance plan because of Obamacare and focused on the federal debt in nearly every answer.

Nunn hammered him several times for backing last fall's government shutdown. "The government shutdown, which David said that he was for, furloughed 4,000 folks just down the road here at Robins" Air Force Base, Nunn told local business types in a Marriott ballroom.

The moderator asked Perdue if he wanted to rebut her charge. "Oh no, not at all," he said. "I think that speaks for itself. … The situation that we had in Washington was over Obamacare. What I was saying was that we cannot default on our interest payments. This is one of the things that's just sacrosanct, and I thought we had a lot of people beginning to talk about that."

Perdue was the surprise winner of the GOP nomination over frontrunner Rep. Jack Kingston in last month's runoff. If Kingston, a ten-term congressman, had been the nominee, Nunn would likely have framed the race as a contrast between a D.C. insider and a Georgia outsider.

Now that she faces another first-time candidate, however, she is focusing her campaign on temperament. She described herself as a pro-business moderate and defense hawk who wants to cut deals and get things done.

Nunn attacked Perdue for walking out of an endorsement meeting with the U.S. Chamber after 10 minutes in frustration. She said he blanked when asked during an interview to name an issue on which he could work across the aisle with a Democrat. And she criticized him for saying that the election is about "prosecuting the failed record of the Democratic administration."

"I don't think we need more prosecutors," she said. "I think we need more problem-solvers. We need more collaboration and less conflict."

Georgia represents a rare pick-up opportunity for Democrats this year. The state is becoming more purple with growing African-American and Hispanic populations.
Democrats are spending heavily to drive up Perdue's negatives. EMILY's List announced earlier Thursday that it will spend $1 million over the next month on ads hitting Perdue over a pay-discrimination lawsuit filed against Dollar General.

Nunn herself is running a rough ad that features textile mill workers who got laid off after Perdue was CEO of the Pillowtex. (The company had already declared bankruptcy when Perdue arrived.)

Perdue's four decades in business are the central rationale for his candidacy.
"Only 10 people in the Senate have any business experience," he said at the forum, "and even those 10 people have been in office longer on average than they were in business."
While he mostly ignored Nunn in his answers to a moderator's questions, he took a parting shot in his closing statement.

"If you like what's going on in Washington, then vote for my opponent, because she knows she'll be nothing more than a proxy for Harry Reid and Barack Obama," he said. "Nothing will change."

Aside from the government shutdown, the two debated other hot-button issues. Nunn defended her support for fixing Obamacare and expanding Medicaid while criticizing Perdue for backing repeal.

"I ask you," Nunn said, "do we really want to be having this same argument about ACA in six years?"

Perdue told the crowd that he had a high-deductible plan through a major carrier that he really liked, but it was canceled when the law took effect.

"We were told that it wasn't good enough," he said. "[The new plan] has a lot of things I don't need, and my rates doubled."

Perdue said he wants to replace the law with an alternative measure introduced in the House by Georgia Republican Tom Price.

On immigration, Nunn said she would have voted for the bill that passed the Senate last year -- noting that it had the support of both conservative Marco Rubio and liberal Chuck Schumer. She accused Perdue of mischaracterizing its path to citizenship as amnesty.

Perdue said his focus is on securing the border first, and he attacked the Obama administration for not enforcing the visa laws already on the books.

Nunn is the daughter of former Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn, once chair of the Armed Services Committee. He retired in 1996 and was in the audience Thursday. She said that she too will sit on the committee so she can be a "steward" for Georgia's nine bases and 140,000 Defense Department personnel.

"I disagree with those in Washington and the president who believe that this is the time to cut our military," she said. "I've heard my dad say on a number of occasions … there was never a BRAC [base] closure [in Georgia] during his 24 years in the Senate. And that's not a coincidence."

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