Sununu, Shaheen Debate In North Conway

By Josh Rogers on Wednesday, October 1, 2008.

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In the first debate of their US Senate rematch, both candidates proved eager to revisit each others' lengthy public careers.

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The debate ranged from the national energy policy: Sununu favors prompt offshore drilling; Shaheen doesn't, to fast food: both like fried dough. But the basic dynamic was clear from the outset. Jeanne Shaheen would cast John Sununu as a foot soldier for the Bush administration.

"He voted for every Bush budget, voted for the Bush economic policy, voted to almost double the national debt, 10 trillion dollars. That's why were in the mess we're in."

And Sununu would respond by tarring Shaheen as a sub-par Governor with a penchant for taxes.

"The fiscal reality is clear, she tried to raise taxes in NH. The leadership failure is real, she did nothing about the education funding crisis."

The discussion of 700 billion dollar buyout package now pending in Washington also prompted the candidates to look backward as much as forward. John Sununu said he would have voted for the rescue measure rejected by the house, but favors the alterations proposed by the Senate. He also stressed his past efforts to reign in some mortgage lending excesses.

"I wrote legislation to reform and improve oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, because I saw the risk they posed. No one has provided the leadership and the strength and the commitment to fixing the mortgage system, adding integrity and calling to task the executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, than I have."

Jeanne Shaheen said she would have rejected the original bailout measure, and remains leery of the latest senate proposal, which includes deal sweeteners like mental health parity and alternative energy credits. Shaheen said those provisions have merit on their own, but would add cost to a bill that should focus more on increasing oversight. She then moved to affix blame on the for the entire situation on John Sununu.

"The root of this crisis goes to legislation that John Sununu supported when he went to Washington, and we have not addressed problems with the sub-prime mortgage market and predatory lending practices. Again, when John Sununu was in the Senate voted against cracking down on those predatory lending practices."

The candidates also clashed on the less topical, but still weighty issue of Iraq. Shaheen said she’d remove troops as soon as possible, and that the investments there in manpower and money there has made the fight against terrorism elsewhere more difficult. And she criticized Sununu for past votes against forcing Iraq to repay reconstruction loans.

"The estimate that I’ve seen are Iraqis have 79 billion dollars in oil revenues we are financing the reconstruction to the tune of 10 billion dollar a year. I think we should be asking Iraqis to step up to the plate. Unfortunately John Sununu is not doing that."

Sununu countered that he does favor such repayment, but that collecting it was moot at the time of those votes, and would have remained so if Shaheen had been setting policy.

"The security improvements that never would have taken place if Jeanne Shaheen’s recommendations to pull all the troops out a year and half ago, those security improvements have allowed us to do what she wants to do now, have the Iraqis make the investment themselves."

The debates oddest moment came, when the candidates were asked to defend the participants of the upcoming Vice-Presidential debate. Jeanne Shaheen declined to even utter Joe Biden's name.

"Well, we're going to watch the debate and see how we think about the Vice Presidential nominees."

From there, Shaheen pivoted to renew her criticism of Presidnt Bush and John Sununu, which made Sununu bristle.

"Since the Governor chose to grandstand,rather than actually answer the question, let me answer the question.....Governor Palin has more chief executive experience, legislative experience, than not Joe Biden, than Barack Obama. She's tough she has integrity and I think she's a good match for John McCain."

The lone Vice-Presidential debate, which several in the audience said they expected to be more exciting than the debate they'd just watched, is slated for tomorrow night. Sununu and Shaheen, meanwhile, are expected to share a stage at least five more times between now and election day.