Cheshire Fair

By ALBERT McKEON Staff Writer
amckeon@nashuatelegraph.com

MANCHESTER – As expected, the economy dominated a final debate between Democratic U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes and his Republican challenger Jennifer Horn.

But the contest Tuesday night also prompted spirited and sometimes testy arguments on ethics, the role of government, campaign promises and abortion.

The candidates used almost every tool in their debate strategy kits with the election only a week away and Hodes leading Horn by a large margin in the polls – but with a quarter of surveyed voters saying they're still undecided.

Hodes, the one-term incumbent for the 2nd Congressional District seat, used the televised debate to promote his service to constituents and his support for rebuilding the country's infrastructure with a second stimulus package.

He also voiced his backing for a progressive tax code. "We need to shift our tax priorities to make sure the middle class and families are getting the relief we need," Hodes said.

Horn, a Nashua resident, spent most of her time attacking Hodes' record, trying to portray him as a Washington insider who has done little in his two years in office. But she also outlined two of her main economic goals: cutting government spending and essentially keeping the current tax structure in place.

"We need to have a fiscally-responsible government that leaves money in your pocket up front," Horn said. "Why do we have to limit it to these people in this bracket – have their taxes cut but (others) don't?"She then voiced support for a trickle-down economy without using the term itself.

Hodes, 57, beat six-term incumbent Charles Bass in 2006 as part of the Democratic revolution of Congress. Horn, 44, a former Telegraph columnist and talk-show radio host, had never previously sought political office.

The debate, televised by WMUR-TV and sponsored by The Union Leader, saw Horn repeatedly interrupt moderator Tom Griffith to respond to Hodes' statements. A few times, she didn't answer a question and instead attacked Hodes or waited until the end of her allotted time to provide a response to the posed question.

Horn particularly chased Hodes on the Wall Street crisis. She criticized him for accepting $140,000 in donations from banking, insurance and real-estate entities as a member of the House Financial Services Committee, while "doing nothing" about the impending crisis.

She said, looking at Hodes, that he will "blame George Bush" for everything, but "you've been in there for two years." She later said Hodes has "become the poster boy for the 10 percent approval rating in Congress." But Hodes denied that he's "in the pocket" of the financial industry, pointing to how he twice voted against the $700 billion bailout bill because it did little for taxpayers and mortgage holders. He added that Democrats moved to pass tough regulations on Wall Street when they took a Congressional majority in 2006, but the fault lay with Republicans for previously ignoring warning signs.

"Missus Horn would like to blame me for all the ills of the world," Hodes said. "Why, if I had the power that she says I have, why wouldn't I use it to simply levitate the stock markets?" In response to several of her charges, including one about campaign mailings, Hodes said Horn had accused him of being unethical. "That's a sad and disappointing charge," he said, adding that he has been nothing but ethical in office.

The debate also saw Horn saying she respects the law allowing a woman's right to an abortion but said she is against third-trimester abortions. Hodes responded that he is "pro-choice." In a head-to-head portion of the debate, Hodes asked Horn what research she had conducted to rationally oppose 80 Nobel laureates' backing of embryonic stem-cell research. Horn said she opposed embryonic stem cell research because it offers "zero" cures but supported adult stem-cell research because it has provided more than 70 cures.

Albert McKeon can be reached at 594-5832 or amckeon@nashua telegraph.com.

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