In their first debate Democrat Ann Kuster and her Republican Challenger Marilinda Garcia both did their best to connect their opponent to another, less popular politician.
Garcia tried to tie Kuster to Obama, whose approval rating in the latest UNH poll was below 40 percent.
“She chaired his campaign committee or parts of it while in New Hampshire, and as recently as a few months ago she still claims to be one of his strongest supporters in Congress,” said Garcia.
Kuster tried to frame Garcia as a tea-party extremist from the era of former State speaker of the House Bill O’Brien. She claims Garcia favors abolishing the department of education, and voted to restrict access to abortions.
“She voted to cut our university system budget by 50 percent, she voted to cut veteran’s benefits,” said Kuster.
Garcia also hit Kuster for being serially delinquent on her local property taxes. Kuster meanwhile, needled Garcia for not supporting an increase in the minimum wage.
The debate aired on NHPR and NH1 TV, and was the first in a series of debates, taking place throughout the week.