Governor Charlie Crist and former House Speaker Marco Rubio, Republican U.S. Senate candidates, squared off in their first televised debate today on issues as wide-ranging as federal stimulus funds to health care to their records in state government.
Early in the debate both men drew sharp distinctions between themselves with Crist getting in an early jab by suggesting that Rubio views “public service as a way to enhance his personal wealth,” as indicated in recent news reports.
Crist stoutly defended his support for the $8.2 billion that Florida is receiving under the $787 billion stimulus plan, saying that it was the right thing to do, as he puts people ahead of politics.
“I think it was the right thing to do at the time,” Crist said of the package, noting that the U.S. economy “was literally falling off a cliff” in late 2008 and early 2009. “Things are starting to stabilize now and they’re getting better in Florida.” He pointed out that thousands more would have lost their jobs had Florida not received stimulus funds.
In response to whether he would have voted for the stimulus package if he had been in the U.S. Senate, Crist replied, “that’s pretty clear.”
But Rubio pushed back saying that, had he been a senator he would not have voted for the stimulus plan. He pointed out that notwithstanding the stimulus funds, more than 200,000 jobs had been lost in Florida and the jobless rate was now 12.2 percent. He said that the Democrats in Washington are trying to “fundamentally redefine the role of government in America and we can’t cooperate with” taking action like spending $787 billion “we don’t have.”
“Do you want the next Republican senator from Florida to be someone who would have stood up to Barack Obama and voted against the stimulus package?” he asked. “That would be me. Do you want someone who would have voted with the Democrats? That would be the governor.”
Both men clashed on how each perceived their stewardship in Tallahassee with Crist recalling that the former House Speaker once had a plan to replace property taxes with increases in sales taxes, which if implemented would have amounted to the largest tax increase in Florida’s history. It was obvious that both disagreed on what’s considered a “user fee” and a “tax”. Crist made a distinction between the raft of increases that had been introduced to balance the current budget, saying that increases on items such as drivers licenses are “user fees” and not taxes.
There were disagreements too on how Social Security should be reformed. Crist said that he was not in favor of raising the retirement age and that monies could be saved by eliminating waste and fraud of the Social Security system. Rubio on the other hand proposed that there ought to be a graduated change to Social Security, so people his age, 39 years, would face higher retirement ages, with cost of living increases indexed differently.
The two men found common ground in that, both agreed that the health insurance overhaul signed into law last week, will do little to help Americans and ought to be repealed.
Asked about his relationship with the Tea Party, Rubio said that he was “proud” of his association with the groups.
As in the debate’s opening where Crist smacked Rubio for viewing “public service as a way to enhance his personal wealth”, he closed out by observing that his opponent is yet to reveal his tax returns.
Noting that he had made public his tax returns last week, Crist said he wondered whether Rubio wasn’t revealing his returns because he is doctoring the books.
A new Mason-Dixon poll released last Friday, March 26th shows Rubio holding an 11-point lead over Crist, a closer race than recent polls have indicated.
