GOP candidates head to Des Moines debate
January 14, 2000
Web posted at: 5:29 p.m. EST (2229 GMT)
DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) -- With the January 24 Iowa caucuses just 10 days away, the full card of GOP presidential candidates will assemble in Des Moines on Saturday for their second debate in a week.
Their competing tax cut proposals, negative campaigning and abortion are issues that are expected to take center stage at Iowa Public Radio's Maytag auditorium early Saturday afternoon.
The six candidates -- Texas Gov. George W. Bush, Arizona Sen. John McCain, publisher Steve Forbes, conservative activist Gary Bauer, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch and former U.N. Ambassador Alan Keyes -- will meet in the same forum that hosted Democratic presidential candidates Al Gore and Bill Bradley on January 8.
Sponsored by the Des Moines Register, Saturday's 90-minute GOP debate will be moderated by the newspaper's editor, Dennis Ryerson, and will air live at 2 p.m. ET on CNN.
In the tax cut battle, Bush and McCain have been trading barbs through the media this week over who has forwarded the better plan. Bush, armed with a five-year, $483 billion plan, says he will shore up Social Security and send
the budget surplus back to the American people in the form of tax cuts. In a previous debate, Bush pledged a tax cut "so help me God."
The Arizona senator, however, maintains that his smaller plan -- coming in at $240 billion -- would set aside the entire Social Security surplus in addition to 62 percent of the non-Social Security surplus for the retirement program and for Medicare.
"Over the last few days Governor Bush has said that locking up the Social Security trust fund will save Social Security on its own," McCain said in a statement Thursday. "He's wrong."
McCain, who maintains no campaign operation in Iowa, is currently placing third in state polls.
Forbes, who advocates a flat tax, may again be criticized for being the first candidate to run a negative ad. Last week, Forbes launched an ad alleging that as governor of Texas, Bush reneged on a 1994 tax pledge. During Monday night's debate in Michigan, most of the candidate's pledged they would not run negative ads. Forbes declined to make that pledge.
In a "turnabout is fair play" move this week, the Republican Leadership Committee launched an ad of its own targeting Forbes for going negative.
But despite Bush's firm pledge, a recent poll of 1,000 Texas voters found that fully half said they didn't believe Bush would be able to both cut taxes and
balance the federal budget, as he has promised.
Campaigning in Iowa for his son Thursday, former President George Bush said, "I believe he is qualified and competent to lead this country from my experience as president, based on my experience as his father."
Taxes aside, the caucuses could well be an easy victory for Bush, who holds a double-digit lead in Iowa over the second place Forbes. Recent Des Moines Register polls place the Texas governor with a 29 percent lead over the millionaire publisher.
The Texas governor will likely come under fire for his apparently tepid stance on abortion from one of the four candidates -- Bauer, Forbes, Keyes and Hatch -- vying for the conservative mantle. During Monday's debate in Michigan, Forbes attacked Bush for failing to pledge he would choose a pro-life running-mate.
Bush instead said he would pick a running mate who could serve as president and "who likes me."
Despite the absence of a pledge from Bush, the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League has singled out the Republican front-runner as being more conservative than he will admit.
"Bush uses often the slogan of compassionate conservative to describe himself," said Kate Michelman, NARAL's executive director. "But it hardly describes the record he has compiled as governor when it comes to ensuring women's reproductive health and rights. Last year alone, Governor Bush signed seven measures restricting rights, adding to the 11 provisions enacted in previous years," Michelman said.
Bauer, who of late has been shifting his rhetoric to the moral aspects of international trade, will likely focus on halting U.S. trade with China until the country can prove it has ended its litany of human rights abuses.
Last fall, Iowans flooded the Register with potential questions for candidates from both parties. Those questions were then reviewed by a select panel, and a few were chosen for Saturday's debate. In addition, the debate format will include queries from community college students in the audience and the
candidates will be allowed to interrogate one another.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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