Candidates target Obama at GOP Senate debate

  • By MATTHEW WATKINS

  • Posted: Tuesday, October 4, 2011 7:00 a.m.
  • Text size: A A A


Six Republican candidates for U.S. Senate roiled against President Barack Obama at a GOP debate at Texas A&M on Monday, criticizing his policies for job creation, health care and energy.


The candidates varied little in their proposed policies -- repealing health care reform, lowering taxes and eliminating onerous regulations on energy and commerce -- but stressed their unique abilities to implement them.


Tom Leppert and Elizabeth Ames Jones drew on their experience in elected office, Leppert as a mayor of Dallas who reduced the scope of the municipal government and worked to create jobs, and Ames Jones as a railroad commissioner who encouraged the growth of the energy industry.


"We have a dysfunctional government," Leppert said. "I fixed a dysfunctional government."


Glenn Addison, a Magnolia funeral director, and Lela Pittenger, from Driftwood, stressed their political outsider status and "real life experience."


And Andrew Castanuela, a retiree from the U.S. Air Force, and Ted Cruz, former solicitor general of Texas, stressed their willingness to fight for conservative values.


"There is nothing that our nation needs more right now than strong conservatives and fighters," Cruz said. "Barack Obama is the most radical president our nation has ever seen."


The two-hour event provided little time for participants to go into details, and there was no direct confrontation between the six candidates on the stage. In fact, the candidate mentioned most by his opponents -- Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst -- was absent.


Cruz called Dewhurst the "800-pound gorilla in the race," saying that the event was the 11th forum the candidate has skipped this year.


Dewhurst, who is leading early polls and is expected to have a significant financial advantage, was in Austin on Monday. He spoke at a town hall meeting there and stressed his experience over the other candidates, according to the Austin American-Statesman.


A man in a duck suit met Dewhurst at his Austin event, suggesting that the lieutenant governor was "ducking" the other candidates. Dewhurst told the American-Statesman that he will attend an Oct. 21 forum in Sugar Land.


The candidates are seeking the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison. The primary race will be in March, and the general election is in November 2012.

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