CHRISTIAN MURDOCK, The Gazette
Ken Buck, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, makes a point during a Friday night debate with his opponent, incumbent Michael Bennet.
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Rowdy debate crowd steals thunder from Senate candidates
September 17, 2010 8:58 PM
THE GAZETTE
A rowdy crowd divided along party lines may have been the unofficial winner of a debate between U.S. Senate candidates Ken Buck and Sen. Michael Bennet Friday night at Centennial Hall.
The audience was made up solely of Buck and Bennet supporters who had tickets to the debate, and moderator Rob Quirk, KOAA-NewsFirst 5 anchor, repeatedly rebuked both camps for booing, shouting and other “elementary” antics.
The candidates, however, remained civil.
Negative TV advertising was a theme that ran through much of the evening. Each candidate said his ads were needed to counter incorrect information coming from his opponent.
“It seems to me that what we’re not impressing, especially for a job like the one I’m in right now, is our own set of facts,” Bennet said.
When Bennet questioned the funding sources of five attack ads currrently running, two Buck supporters waved their arms wildly to claim credit.
The candidates also were asked about their positions on stem-cell research and abortion, the war in Afghanistan, illegal immigration and reform to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
Multiple times, Bennet said he and Buck shared common ground on several issues, but Buck dismissed any similarities, at one point saying, “I have to disagree with your agreement.”
“You have heard my view that we need to work from the bottom up in this country and you have heard Senator Bennet’s view that we need to work from the top down,” Buck said.
Buck also affirmed that he’s running on a grassroots platform supported by the tea party and like-minded independents.
“I have faced the fact that Republicans are every bit to blame for the mess that we are in as the Democrats,” Buck said. “We have, in years past, raided the treasury to help our friends and now Democrats raid the treasury to help their friends. It’s both wrong.”
Bennet told the crowd not be fooled by Buck’s grassroots platform, again citing attack ads paid for by special interest groups in Washington.
Throughout the debate, Bennet touted his bipartisan record as a junior senator, saying he voted across the aisle more times than any other senator.
“I actually do think that there are a lot of people back there who ignore the people in their states all the time. And they engage in these political battles that have absolutely nothing to do with making sure that we have the most competitive economy in the world, an education system to support that economy and that we are building a future that we can pass off to our kids and our grandkids — the American dream for another generation.”
The debate was sponsored by KOAA-NewsFirst 5, The Gazette and the League of Women Voters.
The audience was made up solely of Buck and Bennet supporters who had tickets to the debate, and moderator Rob Quirk, KOAA-NewsFirst 5 anchor, repeatedly rebuked both camps for booing, shouting and other “elementary” antics.
The candidates, however, remained civil.
Negative TV advertising was a theme that ran through much of the evening. Each candidate said his ads were needed to counter incorrect information coming from his opponent.
“It seems to me that what we’re not impressing, especially for a job like the one I’m in right now, is our own set of facts,” Bennet said.
When Bennet questioned the funding sources of five attack ads currrently running, two Buck supporters waved their arms wildly to claim credit.
The candidates also were asked about their positions on stem-cell research and abortion, the war in Afghanistan, illegal immigration and reform to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
Multiple times, Bennet said he and Buck shared common ground on several issues, but Buck dismissed any similarities, at one point saying, “I have to disagree with your agreement.”
“You have heard my view that we need to work from the bottom up in this country and you have heard Senator Bennet’s view that we need to work from the top down,” Buck said.
Buck also affirmed that he’s running on a grassroots platform supported by the tea party and like-minded independents.
“I have faced the fact that Republicans are every bit to blame for the mess that we are in as the Democrats,” Buck said. “We have, in years past, raided the treasury to help our friends and now Democrats raid the treasury to help their friends. It’s both wrong.”
Bennet told the crowd not be fooled by Buck’s grassroots platform, again citing attack ads paid for by special interest groups in Washington.
Throughout the debate, Bennet touted his bipartisan record as a junior senator, saying he voted across the aisle more times than any other senator.
“I actually do think that there are a lot of people back there who ignore the people in their states all the time. And they engage in these political battles that have absolutely nothing to do with making sure that we have the most competitive economy in the world, an education system to support that economy and that we are building a future that we can pass off to our kids and our grandkids — the American dream for another generation.”
The debate was sponsored by KOAA-NewsFirst 5, The Gazette and the League of Women Voters.
