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Home | Politically Connected | National Politics | U.S. Senate
At debate, 3 DFL Senate hopefuls try to show differences
Senate candidates Al Franken, Mike Ciresi and Jim Cohen clashed over Iraq and health care at the TwinWest Chamber event.
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DFL U.S. Senate candidates sparred over their differences on the war at a debate on Friday, with attorney Mike Ciresi accusing comedian Al Franken of having switched his position on a timetable for withdrawal.
"I've always been in favor of a timetable," Ciresi said at a debate sponsored by the TwinWest Chamber of Commerce. Franken, he said, had sided with President Bush on the issue as recently as last June.
While interviewing a guest on his radio show then, Franken had said that, "I'm not sure we should set a timetable myself. I may actually, oddly enough, agree with Bush here."
On Friday, Franken said that he did not support Bush's position at the time, but had been taking issue with a plan for speedy withdrawal that had been proposed by Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee.
Franken said there were "no good solutions" in Iraq, "only bad solutions and worse solutions."
Franken, in turn, appeared to take Ciresi to task when Ciresi said that the recent surge of U.S. combat troops had diverted resources from training the Iraqi military.
"I don't believe we should be training the Iraqi military," Franken said. He also countered Ciresi's proposal that the United States should convene a conference of regional powers in the Middle East.
Such a conference will never occur while the U.S. continues to occupy Iraq, Franken said. "They [regional powers] are not going to do that unless we start leaving," he said. U.S. troops, Franken said, should be redeployed to Kuwait, Qatar and Afghanistan.
Franken, Ciresi and environmentalist Jim Cohen all agreed on the basics: end the war, fund health care and roll back tax cuts for the rich, but there the agreement ended.
On health care, Franken said he supports single-payer health care for children and would require all 50 states to provide universal health care insurance for their residents. Ciresi said he favored universal health care, but not a single-payer system where government is the payer. Cohen said, "I do believe single-payer is the way."
On whether to increase the gasoline tax, Ciresi said the federal gas tax should be temporarily increased 4 to 6 cents a gallon to reinvest in the nation's infrastructure, but that a needs assessment should be done to prioritize those investments. Franken said he supports a state gasoline tax increase of 5 to 10 cents. Cohen said he prefers a consumption tax.
Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, the man all three are looking to unseat, was not at Friday's debate, nor was declared candidate Dick Franson. TwinWest sponsors said they plan to have Coleman and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., speak to the group in the near future.
Patricia Lopez • 651-222-1288
Patricia Lopez • plopez@startribune.com
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