A Progressive, A Moderate And A Washington Outsider Emerge From U.S. Senate Debate

A trio of Democratic hopefuls in the race for an open U.S. Senate seat used the first televised debate to put some light between them, differentiating their positions on major issues facing New Jersey and the rest of the nation.

U.S. Reps. Rush Holt, Frank Pallone and state Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver answered questions posed by a panel from local media during a WABC-TV debate that aired Sunday morning.

A progressive, a moderate and an outsider emerged from the debate in a race where the candidates so far have had few arguments and little to distinguish themselves from each other.

There also was a little talk about the absence of Newark Mayor Cory Booker, the fourth candidate who leads the Democratic pack by a huge margin. Booker’s campaign has previously agreed to two debates – one televised and one to air on radio and each scheduled before the Aug. 13 primary election.

“It’s worth noting that there are three of us up here. There is one who is missing,” Holt said. “We don’t know where Mr. Booker stands on breaking up the big banks. We don’t know where he stands on stopping warrantless spying on Americans. Well, we do know where he stands on vouchers, actually. We don’t know why he stands where he does on vouchers."

Pallone piled on.

“I don’t know where mayor Booker is today that he couldn’t be here on a weekend during a debate and tell us where he stands,’’ Pallone said. “In this election we have to have direct contact with the voters and his not being here I think is a major problem.’’

The panel answered questions on women’s reproductive rights, urban crime, gridlock on Capitol Hill and immigration, among other issues during the hour-long session.

Pallone and Holt, each veteran Congressmen who have worked together for more than a dozen years, notably split on healthcare and gun control. The two agreed that Social Security and Medicare needed to be protected, but differed on the Affordable Care Act, legislation that Pallone help write and has become a central theme of his campaign.

Holt, an advocate of a universal, single-payer health care system, said the act, also known as “ObamaCare’’ did not go far enough. It earned him a rebuke from Pallone.

“We can all talk, as (Holt) did, about single-payer, and I’m an advocate for single payer,’’ Pallone said. “But you have to look at actually what you can do.”

The two also sparred over gun control. Holt said he wanted to pass legislation implementing New Jersey’s gun control laws nationwide, a move that would wipe out so-called “Stand Your Ground’’ laws, such as the one at the center of the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case in Florida.

Pallone again went with a more moderate approach.

“I don’t know that we can get that accomplished,’’ Pallone said. “What we can get accomplished is universal background checks, assault weapons ban and the clips and that’s what we should concentrate on --- what we can actually do.’’

Oliver said she “would not stand for’’ defunding programs that support women’s reproductive rights and she would “fight tooth and nail’’ to keep the food stamp program intact - a program that House Republicans had recently stripped from the Farm Bill where it has historically been coupled.

“There is a war and an assault on women coming from Capitol Hill,” Oliver said. “To see a state like Texas enact laws that would reduce down from 41 to five the number of facilities where a woman can go an obtain a legal abortion. I will not stand for it. The women of new jersey will not stand for it.”

Oliver also said she believes she could overcome partisan gridlock in Washington D.C.

“I believe whether you are an independent, a Republican, or a democrat, if you are committed to representing the interests of people you will not participate in the chaos that you see on Capitol Hill today.’’

Whoever emerges from the Democratic primary will face off with the Republican nominee -- either Steve Lonegan, former Bogota mayor, or Alieta Eck, Somerset County physician -- in the Oct. 16 special U.S. Senate election.

The Democratic debate was sponsored by Channel 7/WABC-TV, Univision WXTV-41, WPVI-TV6, The Record of North Jersey and League of Women Voters.