Sunday, March 31, 2013
A look back at what happened over the past week in the U.S. Senate race.
It was a big week in the race for U.S. Senate, with both Republican and Democratic candidates facing off for the first time in a debate Wednesday night. Candidates running in the April primary faced each other in two 30-minute debates in an event sponsored by the Boston Media Consortium and held at the WCVB-TV, Channel 5 studios in Needham. Congressmen Stephen Lynch (D-South Boston) and Edward Markey (D-Malden) went several rounds on the topic of health care reform in the first debate between the two Democrats. The two also sparred over bank bailouts. Write-in Democratic candidate Brett Rhyne was not at the debate. Republicans also faced each other for the first time in their own debate immediately following Lynch and Markey. Candidates …
Thursday, March 28, 2013
GOP and Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate debated Wednesday night at the Channel 5 studios in Needham.
In the days leading up to the first Democratic U.S. Senate debate, U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-South Boston) has been called upon frequently to explain the vote he took against the health care reform bill in 2010. Wednesday night, Lynch and U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Malden) went several rounds on the topic. They faced-off for 30 minutes at the Channel 5 studios in Needham following a contest among the three declared Republican candidates. For Markey, President Obama's initiative, aimed at universal health care coverage, was "the proudest vote of my career." "Steve, when that vote came up you were wrong," Markey said. For Lynch, taxes and a lopsided deal for insurance companies were among the problems that outweighted benefits such as the …
GOP and Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate debated Wednesday night at the Channel 5 studios in Needham.
The Republican candidates for U.S. Senate leaned on their diverse backgrounds to explain positions on issues ranging from the economy and debt reduction to gay marriage Wednesday night. Gabriel Gomez, a former Navy SEAL and businessman from Cohasset, said that hearing from a variety of perspectives served him well in the military and that he would bring those lessons to bear working with fellow Republicans and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. State Rep. Dan Winslow (R-Norfolk), saying "Obamacare is bad for Massachusetts" and simply layers federal bureacracy on top of the state's system, highlighted an upcoming legislative proposal on Beacon Hill to reduce health care costs. Former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan talked about making …
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
The Democratic challenger and Republican incumbent in the much-watched race for the Senate are at odds on whether the reschedule their final debate.
Democratic Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren wants to hold a final debate with Scott Brown after all — but it's not clear the incumbent Republican Senator will agree to it. On Monday, both camps in the down-to-the-wire election cancelled a debate that was to have been held Tuesday night. They cited safety concerns surrounding Hurricane Sandy. "It is simply not appropriate to go forward with a political debate when a disaster strikes," a Brown press aide said in a statement on Monday. "The focus for all of us before, during and after the storm needs to be on emergency response and disaster relief, not campaigns and politics." Warren's camp followed suit shortly afterward on Monday with their own statement. "Elizabeth believes the debate …
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Held in Springfield, this debate focused more on issues, less on personal attacks.
Vital issues core to this race for the U.S. Senate — taxes, healthcare, soaring higher education costs, abortion, insurance coverage of contraception — were the focus of last night's debate between Sen. Scott Brown and challenger Elizabeth Warren. And, of course, there were different views of which candidate accomplished the most in this penultimate debate. The final debate between them is scheduled for Oct. 30. Who do you think 'won' last night's debate? Tell us in the comments section below.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
The two candidates for the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts faced off in their first live debate on Thursday night.
Stark differences came out early and often between U.S. Senate candidates Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown in their first debate, with disagreements on everything from tax policy, to job creation to women's rights. Over and over during the Thursday debate, Warren chose to bring up Sen. Brown's voting record, and Brown chose to point out that Warren's plan would raise taxes on everyone and stifle job creation. "He has said he will defend the top 2 percent and the top 3 percent...and will hold the other 98 percent of families hostage," Warren said, referencing Brown's position against extending the Bush-era tax cuts unless it also contained cuts for the country's top earners. Brown countered by noting that Warren's policies would raise …
Incumbent Scott Brown and challenger Elizabeth Warren squared off in their first debate Thursday night.
Republican Senator Scott Brown faced off against Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren Thursday night in a debate televised by WBZ-TV. The Thursday debate was the first of four planned tilts between the candidates, and it saw disagreement between the two on just about every topic. Polls have seesawed over the last week, with Brown and Warren swapping small leads, as they have throughout the campaign. The debates may provide one or the other an opportunity to change voter minds and swing the election his or her way. Central to Thursday's debate was the focus on taxes, jobs and the economy. "He has said he will defend the top 2 percent and the top 3 percent...and will hold the other 98% of families hostage," Warren said, referencing Brown's…
Stephen Smith
12:02 pm on Wednesday, October 31, 2012
I had no problem with either of the candidates bowing out of the debate that was scheduled the day after the storm. Scott Brown though giving the reason for not rescheduling the debate by saying there have been enough debates is disingenuous. It is much more about the risk involved in taking part in a debate less than a week before the election. He has had one bad performance in the debates. I … more ›