Major candidates vying for Louisiana’s U.S. Senate seat clashed Tuesday night over health care, finances and each other’s records in their first televised debate, slamming each other as they sought to break away from the pack in a race that has stayed stubbornly tight in the final weeks ahead of the Nov. 8 election.
As The Associated Press reports, Republican U.S. Rep. John Fleming struck quickly at both of his GOP opponents, hitting state Treasurer John Kennedy for running years ago as a liberal Democrat and endorsing John Kerry for president. Fleming suggested U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany wasn’t fully committed in his opposition to President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul and helped boost the country’s debts.
“You can run, but you can’t hide, Charles,” Fleming said.
Boustany said Fleming was twisting his record and comments. Kennedy said he was targeted because he’s leading. He repeatedly trashed the performance of Congress, saying “they ought to be ashamed of themselves,” without naming his GOP opponents who serve in the U.S. House.
Democratic lawyer Caroline Fayard, who has never held elected office, also struck at Kennedy for voting against a debt refinancing that she said helped fund health care and education programs, suggesting the treasurer was bad at finances. She chastised all the men on stage as career politicians who lived off taxpayer salaries, “who keep promising to make things better but never do.”
“These men talk a lot about themselves. But they don’t talk about you,” Fayard said. She ended her closing argument by saying: “My name is Caroline Fayard, and I’m not one of the good ol’ boys.”
