Specter, Hoeffel Come Out Firing in First Debate

Hoeffel argued repeatedly that Specter represented and supported the “failed policies of the Bush administration.” Specter, by contrast, stressed his 24-year record of delivering jobs and federal dollars to Pennsylvania, but did surprise many by openly changing his position on the privatization of some parts of Social Security.

The president and the state’s junior senator, Republican Rick Santorum, have both argued that younger workers should be able to set apart of their Social Security taxes into private accounts that can be invested in the stock market. Specter has publicly endorsed the idea, but on Saturday, said he had changed his mind.

“At one time I had considered a small portion of Social Security in private accounts,” Specter said during the hour-long debate in Pittsburgh. “I looked more deeply into the issue and found it would create a $1 trillion diversion… I think it is unwise. I believe the seniors ought to be reassured that their Social Security benefits are solid.”

Hoeffel seized the change in position and paraphrased President Bush’s debate performance, asking the senior senator, “Now, when you flip-flop, is that a mixed message?”

The debate also turned more personal when Hoeffel, who is trailing by some 20 points in many polls, angered Specter by saying, “I’m glad I get to follow Arlen Specter today to correct his misstatements and lies.”

“He just called me a liar,” Specter shot back. “If he expects to function in the Senate of the United States, a collegial body, he better learn to stop calling people liars.”

The clash allowed Jim Clymer, a Lancaster lawyer and candidate of the conservative Constitution Party, to fire his own broadside at the major party nominees.

“Isn’t it interesting how you see Sen. Specter and Rep. Hoeffel tearing into each other and calling each other liars?” Clymer said. “The reason is that there really is no significant difference between them on the major issues. They try to argue who is the more liberal.”

Specter, running for a historic fifth term, hammered Hoeffel’s record on taxes and the war in Iraq.

“The votes that Rep. Hoeffel has cast are really hard to understand. He voted for the use of force. Then when it came to providing the troops with armor and body protection, he voted against the funding,” Specter said. “How can you send the troops into battle without proper equipment and support?”

Hoeffel defended his vote by saying, “Had Congress voted a year ago to stop that appropriation and make the president sit down with congressional leaders and work out a more … sensible approach in Iraq, the situation would not be as bad as it is today.”

Although largely focused on national issues, the two candidates did haggle over support for a tariff the United States imposed to protect domestic steel companies from foreign competitors.

“Didn’t those tariffs do a great deal of good for the American steel industry?” Specter said. “Answer that, Rep. Hoeffel.”

“You fumbled the ball on the steel tariffs,” responded Hoeffel, noting that Specter failed to stop the president from removing the tariffs after only 21 months.

“Sen. Specter should have stood up for Pennsylvania steel,” Hoeffel said. “He waffled and caved in the face of the president instead.”

In addition to Clymer, Libertarian candidate Betsy Summers also participated in Saturday’s debate. She, like the Constitution Party’s Clymer, took aim at both candidates as too liberal, referring to Specter as a “big-government Republican” and Hoeffel as a “bigger-government Democrat.”

The debate was the first of two. A second is planned for Saturday, Oct. 9 in Philadelphia.