KANU News Retention; October 1996 Retention (3 of 3)

peggy in that kim you have a chance now to talk of the candidates up close and personal so to speak about death everything from congressional perks and campaign finance reform to education and the environment can vote as i think it's fair to say ever have the opportunity to spend such one on one time with the candidates as you have so tell me now that you've had this time to fully digest the experience what's your impressions of us can walk right by the distant distant i mean they're both very personable that roberts was a little more smoothly he was he was very likable that and i didnt feel like yukon and the questions sometimes i felt like he was ready to go in his answer these questions so many times before that that he maybe didn't have to think about that i thought more so it's sally thompson that she was actually considering my question a little more maybe then congressman roberts what it easy to build a good b the impression that he perhaps was i'm pondering the questions as much as says sonny thompson was will i quit on many environmental

question i would have liked to have heard a little more concern from him about things that they still need to work on he sounded like they were you know you start quoting the farm bill which which is important and things like that but it wasn't it wasn't really the question i asked did you know the answer that they prepared whether that was a question not an end and if they aren't listening to you now are they going to listen to you later let me ask you peggy where the candidates different imprisonment perhaps you thought they would be from how big trade in the media or what you've seen of them already in a tv campaign commercials i must admit that to my opinions on board changed a little bit from what i'd heard earlier how to beijing i got pat roberts would be a little more distant and a little more i'm connected to come to ordinary kansas things and i thought selling thompson would be a little gentler shall we say you didn't think she was great job i

mean one question on education says that over every time deriding what her apology never mentioned my name so quite negative and i had not expected that was your view walk outside thompson right more negative things about roberts but i think that's the position she is an unhinged he's the he's the person with experience and she has to bring up points against him to say why why do you not want him and want me that makes any outline let's move on to some of the specific questions that you asked you both wanted to know about be a residency issue the thompson campaign is being that making a big deal of the fact that the current robots really doesn't live in kansas they argue he's lived the last thirty years in washington and his only connection to kansas as a post office box he maintains in that dodge city many people out onto this is a non issue peggy us the question is it an important issue to you it is an important issue to me because it's a representative

government and to get that person out in the senate representing you doesn't know what's going on in kansas doesn't know the ordinary problems in kansas that i don't think he hears she can keep that in mind when they go but sally thompson as was brought up i believe in your question was not from kansas she was originally from colorado does that make a difference cnbc came here nineteen eighties i don't see that as an issue let me a press you on something else peggy just before i turn my microphone on you said something that i was a kind of surprised that you said that the feeling that what sally thompson was telling you you know answers to questions were quite believable to me why you think that and sally thompson specifically smith said that she would do so by cuts here and there but is also proposing increased federal spending an education fields and you can't increase federal control and education

without using tax money stay resource there is and i don't think you and i don't think it figures add up to a balanced budget item at worried that she would say things to get elected that may not be totally correct we finish up by asking you both about the decision of kansans will make on november fifth based on your experience now would you recommend one candidate over another kim i think they're both good candidates and i think they both have their strengths i don't think we're going to go downhill with either of them actually but i was happy with it where's pat roberts answers on some things and i know he has a lot of experience which makes me feel kind of all that only someone with a lot of experience will be there especially after we have two senators who've been there a long time with their connections there there's also a night lights on thompson's answers on involvement much more than an hour

or so but you said that roberts had you felt that he had the experience he knew what to do he knew the issues do you feel that perhaps sally thompson is lacking an expert will see as lacking an experience but that doesn't mean that she can get a job i mean i think she's got some good ideas but i do what i consider pat robertson so i think while he's got his college experience i think that i mean something you know it's interesting came at you i don't ascribe any of these candidates in your assessment as being a quote impressive i know that last week we had another sad to find undecided voters interview with the two candidates running for the dull senate seat both of them concluded there that day job working in sam brownback will both impressive individuals and kansans i would be lucky to have to choose between them but but how about in this race drew kansans have an impressive choice peggy after sitting back for a while and thinking about the interviews and the responses they had given you

know one will be terrible for the state that neither one is really impressive to lose your advice what would would you use it even abuse impressive things and mediocre i don't think either one is our best choice you think they can be of the candidates out there other kansans who might perhaps of being a better choice to replace nancy kassebaum and as nancy nancy kassebaum tanks at a retail giant but do you ensure that i think pat roberts of course has a long history in congress and probably knows the system well sally and locals wonder if the it has to big time for her to go to a federal law while that's perhaps at our most cynical perspective peggy that i expected there to write this piece up with but they're your observations based on the time he did get to spend with a candidate's kim williams katie baker thanks

for being so frank and open with us a month and so being our guinea pigs as we try to hopefully to help bail this is make up their minds who to vote for on election day thanks once again the point this is morning edition i'm j schafer when kansas' second district congressman sam brownback decided to give up his house seat to run for the us senate earlier this year a number of candidates scrambled to replace him in congress that list has now been pared down to two main candidates on november fifth voters will choose one of them to represent them back in washington as the new congressman from the state's oddly shaped second congressional district regardless of who wins the race voters will have to get used to a new space representing them that's because neither of the main candidates running has ever held a publicly elected office the republican candidate jim ryan who lives just outside of lawrence appears to be the front runner but ryan has had a distinct advantage from the beginning

the former track star and olympic silver medalist enjoys high name recognition across the state as a teenager in wichita orion became athletic folk hero of sorts as the first high school student to run the mile less than four minutes he later went on to complete in three different olympics and for nine years he held a world record in the mile those accomplishments are acknowledged and even praised by ryan's main opponent in the general election you know it may be wasn't for repeat actually i was probably know everybody in this room was proud of that running the mile and big athlete doesn't qualify you to be a member of the house of representatives jon friedman is the democratic candidate for the second district seat frieden is a high profile defeat attorney and a successful one at that in fact he's a multimillionaire a point not lost on the ryan campaign he must make a very narrow cut thinking only trial lawyers are the ones i really qualify for a wealthy

trial attorney has an honest facts right here ryan says the facts are that he's more than just an athlete he's also operated a small ranch and currently makes a living as the owner of a small business as does call jim moran supports him and that what really does his is just a corporate name and which i help put together corporate programs as well as just speaking to various groups as a quote pre programmed what most recently is with a company called resound they came to the concert hall to help hearing impaired children they knew i had a hearing loss that we're hearing it so i'll put together a program for them that what we're hearing impaired children throughout the nation ryan's campaign has eagerly capitalized on his status as a kansas athletic icon it's evident in the speeches he gives the sports stories he tells and by the slogan run with ryan which appears on those bumper stickers buttons and campaign literature compared to ryan jon friedman is a relative unknown he's had to wage an uphill battle just to compete with ryan's name recognition and to get his message across to voters one of those messages has been freed and has a broader background and better business experience than the former track star

i come from a farm ranch background i came to take care of the law degree i've been practicing basically business litigation lawyer sense it involved with a number of companies from that standpoint and they had been involved in business and i say that because i think it's important to point out what kind of background a person has when he ran for congress although he rarely mentions it freedom is probably best known in topeka for his work as the lead attorney in a successful lawsuit against the state of kansas frieden suit on behalf of military retirees whose pensions were being illegally taxed at case went all the way to the us supreme court and freedom won the case as a result the kansas legislature was forced to change the way a tax the pensions of veterans frieden was also instrumental in getting kansas lawmakers to agree to a settlement in which sixty million dollars was returned to the military retirees according to freedman supporters it's this kind of success and experience that make him the better candidate

but what about the issues on the surface the two men appear to agree on at least a few of them both claim they want to balance the budget reduce the national debt both candidates are also promising to protect social security and medicare but frieden fears ryan would institute massive across the board cuts something he's already accused house speaker newt gingrich and other congressional republicans of trying to do with a proposal would cut two hundred seventy billion dollars from the projected spending on medicare the two hundred and seventy billion dollar cut or as they call it the slowness of growth would have closed or severely hurt more hampered of the rural hospitals or a smaller hospitals are in our district and would have severely hurt the ones in the major metropolitan areas and it i don't know what congress was thinking about frankly i think that their medicare agenda was to do what newt gingrich said and that was legit whether obama at nearly every opportunity frieden has tried to connect ryan's political philosophy with that newt gingrich he

added he has adopted as far as i can tell the newt gingrich agenda i don't think newt gingrich agenda is good for this country i don't think we need a second revolution i'm not sure we need a mayor the first revolution ryan dismisses those charges saying the freedoms just trying to distort his positions and scare the elderly he says i want to cut medicare and social security i'm on record have been from june says they started this campaign and before that i would protect that system among was seventy nine years old and in others as well now anastasia but throughout the country i can on that and that those sources of funds coming in there just simply false accusations as what the democratic party nationally is doing as well so he's doing is following the democratic hamburg one of the clear distinctions between the candidates is on the issue of abortion right and is enthusiastically pro life while frieden supports abortion rights another dominant factor in this campaign has been ryan strong stance on family values while ryan's been a vocal and unapologetic about his beliefs he's also trying to avoid the appearance of anything more than a family man who believes in god and i remember the christian

coalition know if you're part of the religious right and while that may be true many of ryan's detractors have often portrayed him as an extremist even the religious zealot some of the controversy comes from an article about courtship that ryan his wife rode for a conservative publication in it the ryans explain their traditional conservative views on dating which included believe that their children should not date until they're out of college or close to it the article also says a young man wanting to date one of the ryan daughters needs to be spiritually and financially prepared to marry her of the two should fall in love while some may find the idea of courtship old fashioned perhaps even controlling ryan's twenty one year old daughter catherine recently joined her father in a news conference to defend her upbringing my dad does not make my decisions made as hell we make them because i want to you and you have no objections to the dating policies and procedures your family and asselin as a prisoner of the city and made it suppresses its decision not a political issue ryan's

controversy or conservative views may not make that much difference to voters though the democrat now because i'm ashamed whispering campaign that they can ride in that case an employee terms of a plague scream at john marshall is a political writer for the harrison whose service in topeka he is a sports legend and he's of the age of most of the people are going to be going to the polls and they remember him while frieden himself will discuss ryan's personal or religious views he does maintain that ryan's political views are out of step with society the positions that he's taken on the issues are inconsistent with i think the mainstream in this country other issues that divide the candidates include reducing the size of the federal government ryan says he wants to cut at least some of the funding from the departed of education and return that money to

teachers in schools at the local level freedom's opposed to the idea that too and also disagree on the role of the environmental protection agency i'm here for which iran on his approach to the environmental protection agency he wants to eliminate the environmental protection agency but there are some problems that perhaps environmental protection agency this we're a corporate hog farmer nebraska or sludge into the river that ends up in topeka and manhattan there have to be some federal agency take care that problem i have been for a reduction of the way money is spent for the epa and today the large general having to carry a headline story with regard to the amount of millions of dollars are being wasted that's what we're addressing that while about lam for clean air i am for clean water i don't think a single person listening who doesn't believe that but i am against wasteful management and i believe it's better to stay home for the record ron says he isn't necessarily advocating the elimination of either the epa or the part of education freedom however remain skeptical

he is not in the mainstream of thought and this district and i think his policies when he espouses would hurt this desperate and have imagined in the long term this country despite claims like that against ryan and other republican candidates this year political observer john marshall feels the message has become any effective one for the democrats at their one and only religious right after what we've heard the holiday time about so many republican candidate that that if that were true it is not holding much sway with voters and neither of these candidates appealed or kansas voters on november fifth they will have an alternative joyce in the second district are clack is a small business owner from manhattan and he's running on the libertarian ticket for kansas public radio i'm j schafer my name is erica and i live alone and i would like to ask

every senate candidate to work with it because it was made in the federal budget than you paid for a balanced budget without a tax increase kirk narrow jockey my graduate being said i've long admired and respected the other countries with the democratically elected officials were voter turnout is typically a year ninety percent of eligible voters do you believe the us government should actively encourage all eligible us residents to vote and what would you do to see that through they're calling for more info and i'd like to ask the candidates and why it is that our country have the lowest to the highest rate of child poverty in children going to bed hungry in the

industrial world and forty million people without health care and what it is they want to do about it and why their party are addressing the issue i had to carry people agree that there will be bankrupt by the year twenty twenty and one hundred and it matters which you can take to prevent the question i have about immigration do you think that kind of an immigration named and what kind of no legal immigrants have one theory that they can receive when they are legal and human rights i don't know how many people who would have thought that if we were making this appearance eighteen months

ago that the following that would actually take place number one we cut three committees twenty five subcommittees and makeup establish was going for number two we have something called truth in budgeting baseline reform that's a fancy word in washington say what a cut is a cut of surreal cut we start with his evil they sought not simply adding more money into various appropriations bills and then cutting simon and senate that's cut we have term limits on committee chairman we have is an unusual idea that members of congress should be present and we have a comprehensive how's autumn it's still not quite done that would ever has been on the run ever by normal about and then finally all of the rules and regulations that we have made available to everybody on the main street through all sorts of legislation that has been passed work out over the same things we're accountable to the same mosque all that was done today despite all the finger pointing and all the alleged that law we have cut forty three billion dollars

from the discretionary programs in the house agriculture committee a low under the freedom of our proposal we're say the taxpayer ten billion dollars we have provided more and more flexibility to farmers despite those cuts and it is the strongest environmental bill that we have ever passed in regards to any kind of armed robbery and was a committee we had rest of our portion of welfare reform which is due to be formally say the taxpayer twenty three billion dollars and that's no small change so we are making progress with the deficit despite what you may hear we pass something called unfunded mandates legislation that's the business of coercing a lot of laws meant passing the cost out of the county and the state we increased earning women on social security we have a real crime bill and we do have what we have taken action to make sure that any american man or woman serving in the united states armed forces in uniform overseas will serve under us command as opposed to any kind of command and the united

nations and finally we're increasing the medicare payments by fifty percent over seven years despite that many are already in this campaign about cutting medicare not so and i can see by some of the eye glazing your eyes when you're talking about all that legislation and his little numbing but i don't do it if again if i would've asked you eighteen months ago when we would've probably still as you would've said that his boss but we have done that and i will tell you why i think we get very heartening network and we persevere with all due respect to my colleagues in the senate i think with anti retard and again bob running for president we need people and expensive on the partnership i think i can bring to the job we came to play about here and a half ago the speaker of the house of representatives newt gingrich and the president of the united states bill clinton emerged from a meeting all smiles to

promise that they would seek real campaign finance reform they didn't do it they are far too good at playing the big money game of electoral politics to give up their advantage and make the process fair that's a big reason why i'm writing and ralph nader for president bashir the two major parties are financially flush and ethically bankrupt the green party headed by mater stands for grassroots democracy as well as ecological sustainability as long as money buys political office in america we will be at the mercy of those who make the large contributions to the candidates which usually include banks well and many other corporations that stand to gain by having politicians in their pockets how can we ever expect healthcare reform that the drug insurance companies are cozy with congressman ralph nader has spent a lifetime looking out for consumers and for the environment

is not rich and that's because he chooses not to pursue money share is kind of an odd doug sort of a consumer protection monk but so what was made or you don't have to hold your nose when you vote which many people do when they choose the lesser of two evils so why throw my vote away and someone who has no chance of winning for next time the process of getting on the ballot is much more difficult than it should be for new parties in many states including kansas the more support the alternative candidates like nader can garner the better position they're parties will be in for the next election cycle and i'm real tired of choosing the lesser of two evils or three evils if you can't grow what a car get your back as raw so let's take it back from the billionaire tyrant slide you are representative democracy has a crisis that our politicians refuse to solve with only about thirty eight percent of those eligible actually showing up to vote we have the most dismal turnout of any democracy

in the world a party like the greens offers some hope for a political process there will be no serious solutions for the gigantic problems we face like the deterioration of our cities and the destruction of the environment until we remove the corrupting influence of money in politics the richest one percent of americans have wealth equal to the lower eighty percent of those combined are we going to let them all in our government to i want to feel my vote counts for something i believe in a way to change the direction we're going that's why i'm writing him ralph nader for president this is franklin this is morning edition i'm j schafer for the past sixteen years the big first kansas congressional district has been represented by dodge city republican pat roberts when roberts announced earlier this year that he'd be running for the us senate a number

of candidates step forward to fill the shoes in the us house there are now three candidates in the race for that two year term the winner will go to washington to represent a district that covers most of central and western kansas an area that stretches from the colorado border in the west to the city of emporia in the east traditionally the first congressional district seat has been held by republicans so it's really no surprise since the largely agricultural area consists of mainly rural conservative republican voters in fact registered republicans outnumber democrats to the one in the district that gives a built in advantage to the republican candidate in this race state senator jerry moran of haiti's moran is an attorney who has spent the last eight years in the kansas legislature most recently serving as the senate majority leader his democratic opponent is john devine a marketing specialist and former mayor of saliva so far in this campaign both men are generally taken traditional party line positions and consequently they disagree on many issues including the role the federal government should play in regulating the environment

during a recent debate the question was raised about the environmental protection agency's role in regulating water quality issues in kansas republican jerry moran i am one who does not support the idea of more federal involvement in issues involving water control and enforcement water quality standards this one shoe fits all kind of government policy that comes from washington dc would be a difference that that mr devine i would have on this issue democrat john divine disagrees saying the federal government does have an important role to play in overseeing water quality issues in kansas as well as in other states we need a standard across the country i want my kids to go anywhere this country moving in a clean glass of water go about that level playing field i don't want the federal government in control of the federal government does need to set some standards i don't want lower colorado alone are groundwater and let's say that the kansas and then we lose in kansas because of the brain maintains that the epa has already

caused enough problems for kansas with its excessive rules and regulations regarding landfills across the state the idea that we all have a landfill regulations that that affects chicago illinois and our goal county kansas and iowa have to try to comply with the same rules regulations one makes no sense but two is tremendously expensive democrat john divine the federal government does have a place we could be looking at six or seven generations out not just our we save and some dollars today yes we have federal standards that does not have to be a cookie cutter approach that there does need to be the standard their disagreement over how much the federal government should be involved in kansas issues carries over into the area of education democrat john divine education is so important in this country and it right now i would not vote do away with department of education is too important we can save the money without know whether the part of education and there are some good programs that the federal government has some leadership in the school lunch programs we

need a head start program we need school lunch programs and a breakfast program local control of local school system should still be a political ad or that there something's of the americorps i'm proposing that we take americorps and give more and more aid programs to bring the americorps students into our rural schools for help in our inner city schools but education is so important we don't need the federal government out of it well jerry moran hasn't committed himself to eliminating the us department of education as some other republicans have he says he does see a smaller federal role in educating america's youth there are things that participation does that i know about that i think's important student loans for example as selina the department occasion was done away with there are programs that i would be supportive of continued funding i think education is so important that's not the federal government ought to be more involved with the local folks this is another issue in which we disagree a bomb it seems to be calling for more federal involvement in education issues i think education should be

it can best be determined at the local level while local board of education by the teachers and the parents and the students within the community another issue dividing the candidates can send the issue of abortion jerry moran is pro life but like many republicans he says he would support a woman's right to abort in cases of rape incest or to save the life of a pregnant mother john divine is pro choice and falls in line with most democrats who believe that a woman's right to choose whether to have an abortion and that the federal government should not be involved in the decision on the issue of gun control devine is very clear about his position on nov ninth i'll be out in the fields as but i believe very much responsible gun ownership assault weapons are not responsible gun ownership and so i i support the assault weapons ban or support the repeal for his part jerry moran says he hasn't yet decided whether he is in favor of repealing the ban on assault weapons but like most republicans he is generally opposed to gun control what happened to believe that with the statement that you hear gun control generally means that criminals will have

guns and people who buy the law will not the campaign between jerry moran and john divine has not been a very exciting one to watch compared other races in the state this one has been rather tame there been few if any heated exchanges between the two candidates however during a recent debate divine did take his republican opponent to task for accepting pack or political action committee money the vine also question moran's ethical judgment while serving in the kansas legislature an impact on those folks are buying into the republican lobbyist money those folks are by an interview that one that one aside what you do the other thing is we need to do this is a concern that with jerry right now we need to say any committee you're on you have nothing to do that with income related to that state of kansas has been a jury over a quarter of a million dollars or two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in the last five years of his second and rethought serves on the committee at one time and now the leader of

the senate has some say some influence on the republican candidate jerry moran i support the concept of reducing or eliminating the ability for political action committees to contribute money to candidates i think that's a start and i'm trying to help to limit the role the political action committees play i'm i'm selective in who i accept contributions from and it's generally the kinds of groups that then i fill saw that we agree with and while that may be true divine maintains that the only way to be free of the influence of special interest money is to reject it altogether i don't have the ability i wish it had to be able to go out there and say this is a pack and this is a bad practices a good back because we want to do it but it gives money to balance that i must be a pretty good back and the people give money to the other guy must be a bad back i don't have that skill it is time for us to step up and say no to the backs again republican candidate jerry moran campaign finances of problem i don't know what the right solution is a thousand dollars from an individual contributor i'm not sure is a lot

different than a thousand dollars from the national cattlemen's association both candidates agree that reducing the national debt and balancing the federal budget should be top priorities devine says he'd like to see all budget items including entitlement programs like social security and medicare put on the table for examination and he says he's not in favor of implementing any tax cuts at this time iran on the other hand is in favor of targeted tax cuts and he sees them as a way to grow the economy while voters in the big first congressional district will likely choose between one of these two men on election day they'll also have a third choice though he's hardly been seen out on the campaign trail libertarian candidate bill earnest a retired aerospace worker from wichita will also be on the ballot in november fifth for kansas public radio gigi good afternoon and thank you for inviting me to speak today i

always appreciate the opportunity to discuss the issues this election is about our future and the choices we must make for that future we must balance the budget and begin reducing the national debt but we cannot do it on the backs of our children who represent our future are senior citizens who helped build their future pat roberts has coded time and time again to cut medicare to cut our children's education to cut access to college for working families i do not believe that's the way to secure our nation's future we can protect social security medicare education and i am by a man that still balance the budget how can start with eliminating eighty five billion dollars of corporate subsidies or hundred billion dollars and tax loopholes as downsize the federal bureaucracy is kind of the pork and reduce the paperwork and oh yes let's start with congressional reform kirk's pensions and pay raises education my

opponent voted with narrowed to cut billions from education programs like student loans elementary school and start i disagree education is the most important investment we can make my budget after balancing had i had money left for tax credits for a college education for families i'm neither of syria's children to college and i know what it takes i'm also a business woman who understands the need for skilled workers who need access to education to have a protective healthy economy the family medical leave act i support providing families with this security my hanukkah roberts voted against it every chance he got he also voted five times to cut the earned income tax credit for low to moderate income families and that's a clear difference in this race small businesses it's because of my business background and i know how

important it is to balance the budget and still find tax credits for small businesses that invest in job training i also support a hundred percent deductibility of health care costs for small businesses and capital gains cuts for a family business says it's this twenty years of business and private sector experience increased efficiency wiser use of your tax dollars balancing a budget that's what i've done is europe state treasurer and that's what i'll do in washington as you argue as senator and thank you very much many political observers widely considered hot tea party as the weakest link in the states all gop delegation two years ago he narrowly won his race with democrat dan glickman despite being outspent four to one now a national damage credit leaders have placed this race clearly in their sights as a must win seat they hope to retain control of the house

tea party forty four year old self styled conservatives realizes this and stand squarely on the party platform there's also a privilege of mine to run on a group of ideas and after the election i was able to go to washington dc actually do what i said i would do and that's very refreshing that they're used to people telling him one thing and i'm going to washington dc and doing something different approaches of the most significant congress in a generation if you sit back and think of the accomplishments of this congress has made with congressional reform congress now lives on the same laws as the rest of america weak every three fifths required to raise taxes well for reform is so important because it gives people back their dignity sa disappeared in doing some very significant changes that occurred in the last year and a half while t park did not attract the same kind of national publicity as his freshman colleague sam brownback he did made news of his own he proposed abolishing the federal department of energy and was chosen to chair the republican led

task force to implement that we're also working to abolish the department of energy secretary has traveled all over this world as she has wasted money she has five and twenty nine public relations people there's a lot of the ways to the probability was present course it will lose thirty billion dollars over the next seven years we don't do something about being born in a major portion of it key parts main rival is democrat randy rathbun rathbun gave up his job as us attorney in kansas to run for the seat he gained notoriety handling the kansas portion of the federal investigation into last year's oklahoma city bombing the forty two year old ralph and graduated from washburn university in topeka specializing in environmental law throughout this election season he has continually painted the differences between his opponent and himself notably key cards for voting record on the environment and of those fourteen different phones constantly hard had a zero out of fourteen parcel time to go vote on the environment he voted against every time that's why it's so ironic that you are incumbent doesn't believe that there's a need to continue the

bipartisan effort that we've made since nineteen seventy on the environment we've got to continue weekend backup we got to clean up our nation's waters we got to clean up the air because that's what we have to leave her children rathbun realizes the importance of this race on a national level the former us attorney was one of five democrats dispatched to washington this summer to meet with senior party members to develop a strategy for success party leaders believe the fourth district is an ideal match up an accomplished public servant who's facing a freshman lawmaker who won with just fifty three percent of the vote two years ago mindful of that slim margin of victory rather than sticking to a familiar democratic campaigning strategy painting his opponent as a newt gingrich clone who votes the party line regardless of its impact on the home district however it's a label that doesn't seem to bother to heart when the allegations leveled with meticulous ninety seven percent and that means ever for a balanced budget i guess my point as opposed to a balance but i voted for term

limits i voted for welfare reform of wanted to preserve protect medicare vote for the line item veto for congressional for reforms lobbyist reforms and so that that mr gingrich so if you look at the record and there were very important issues to the fourth district of kansas the differences between the candidates are clear tea party's pro life while rathbun as pro choice rathbun says balancing the federal budget is more important than cutting taxes t card says both can be done dr billy isn't slowing the growth of federal spending to a crawl rathbun says if he's elected black to reduce waste in government but not that extreme instead eliminating fraud and abuse of existing programs like medicare nobody says that and everybody talks about it i'm someone that did something about it was in position to do that as us attorney we started a healthcare fraud task force one today one of the first things we found a company was coming in kansas and over a period of a very short period of time the state of

florida state of kansas they had taken adult diapers which itself or thirty nine cents apiece and we're selling into nursing homes for eight dollars and ninety five cents apiece they built a kansas and forty out of forty two million dollars is what concerns me we showed congress' in the department of justice that if you give us one dollar to go after this fraught with investigators and prosecutors will give you thirteen dollars back to the treasury we can fix medicare without cutting the program rathbun has been aided substantially by the national labor unions the afl cia oh has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign ads criticizing tea party as an enemy of the working class owners pending in congress to protect for a one k retirement funds but last year congressman todd wanted to make it easier for corporations to rate of intentions without notifying workers on our side if the nfl cia always pumping

tens of thousands of dollars into the wrapping campaign business groups in kansas are doing the same for the team our campaign the national federation of independent business says is spending more than four million dollars on radio and tv ads backing tea or the small business advocacy group has given the republican congressman a perfect one hundred percent rating on protecting the interests of small business in kansas how hudson is the state director of the end of it we think it's very important to the economy to continue to do those things which will enable small businesses to grow and prosper and it would create more jobs and continue to bolster the kansas economy you feel it would be best served by having party and continuing to serve in congress the group raised to hard for voting against the recently passed minimum wage law which the group says will hurt small businesses they also come and t hard for raising the amount of money self employed business owners can deduct on their health insurance premiums welty

heart got a perfect rating from the imf i'd be for protecting business he got a zero from the kansas national education association they tracked sixteen votes to heart cast in congress from eliminating school breakfast and lunch programs to raising the interest on student loans for many moderate republicans like bob scott the owner of a christmas tree farm just outside of wichita keyboard has gone too far scott not only intends to cross party lines on election day he's also heavily contributing to the rainy rathbun campaign right right i know the report friday and have a conscience and i fulfilled that they've gotten to know from a lot of them for years for a number of those who are flying we are

colorful father quite in terms of a whole range of issues it's difficult to know how many moderate republicans in the fourth district feel the same way scott does but the ref didn't campaign says that one of every three campaign contributions they receive comes from republicans political observers say a rafter needs a major crossover road to gop voters to have any success on election day meanwhile there is a third party candidate in this race libertarian seth warren a locksmith and security consultant from augusta he ran for the same seat four years ago the latest polling figures show he's in the single digits for kansas public radio i'm russell lewis i sometimes wonder of hundreds of politicians throughout the nation have the same name it would appear that newt gingrich is running in every state for the house and senate in one race after another voters are told to defeat the extremist newt gingrich but i mean i thought as i was in georgia and that's where he's running for reelection today

extremist is the first language of the day in politics and newt gingrich's a second not a bad political blog when you hear the word extremist you think of islamic terrorists or the militia with the ku klux klan or nazis or anyone who has a reputation for the use of violence they say that if you repeat something often and you finally get people to believe it and so in an attempt to defeat republican candidate for congress label them extremists and never stopped using the words don't bother dealing with the issues but if you do be sure to deal with only half the truth president clinton is at preserving its bragging rights almost daily he talks about welfare reform the crime bill the minimum wage bill the family bill and other new legislation no legislation passed by the president but legislation passed maisel called extremist republican congressman and presented to bill clinton for his signature

he didn't do it alone but the main cars don't want to discuss that side of the court if they did they may find that these reforms were not occurred without a republican congress so that's quite the name calling and get back to the issues each candidate has a position and opinion that belonged to him or isn't a dime to stop talking about someone who isn't even in the race i think religious people and religious organizations basically make people feel that they're not worthy you're good enough if they don't vote for the candidate that's endorsed by the christian coalition or other religious organizations that they're going to hell in a hand basket something's wrong with that looking at tomorrow america must say the status quo is not an option america's most elect leaders that are not part of the system and not part of the problem americans must elect

leaders that do not subscribe to the us against them attitude that exists in congress today whereby members are bound to vote according to the party line americans must demand accountability of its leaders it must look at the results not their promises americans must quit re electing failure americans must demand a balanced budget amendment the constitution campaign finance reform lobbying reform and a new paperless tax system americans must have an agenda that is equal to the magnitude of its problems and less demand programs that are designed to work not programs that are by design destined to fail americans must result that each generation must pay its own why we must not be remembered as a generation to selfishly consume not only what we produced but also belong to our children americans must change emphasis from rights and privileges to duties and responsibilities from borrowing and spending to saving and investing americans must

demanding abolish minute the federal government and loads of our educational system and americans must accept the fact that the most efficient and economical unit ever devised is the family one build on a rock solid base of uncompromising moral principles in a strict code of right and roll americans must accept the fact that the federal government cannot confiscating of money from the american taxpayer to hear all the ills created by the destruction of the american family and the transfer of its responsibilities to the federal government americans must realize that reform cannot take place from within it cannot and will not take place by reelecting the same people who both created the problem and are the problem it will only take place by letting new people outside people with new ideas and new values people who go to washington to serve the american people not people about washington to cache and at the expense of the american people in closing the singing let me leave you with the words a general omar notion bradley ours is a world of nuclear giants and

ethical influence we know more about war than we know about these more about killing that we know about living we have grass the mystery of the atom and rejected the sermon on the mount and your image there are storm clouds filled the sky and the moment when it had become a howl suddenly a checkerboard of lightning ripped apart the darkness over one terrifying incident she sought silhouetted against the trees the monster fingers still dripping blood from its last victim she shrieked but it was too late the monster hit senior and now no a delicious creole goes up the reader's mind what is it about monsters that passenger so much does appear in the bible and greek and roman myths in medieval geography books and today in movies in cereals as toys as vitamins even in a special newspaper called the last three times like this love affair with monsters experts

say it was to steal a serious need they make external what is internal within ourselves that they are no greater monsters than those in the tales of the brothers grimm yet psychiatry has been about time says children are not frightened by the stories quite the contrary one of the difficulties children face is he in reality between what grownups tell them all people are inherently good and what they knew about themselves gee i would always good and even when i am good i don't always want to be this contradiction can take four year old gianni feel like a monster in his own eyes fairytales teach joanie that good wife a good side himself will ultimately win out over the monstrous side you i had the same feeling when we emerged from a scary movie for two hours we follow the adventures of the silver screen hero shares his theory was temporarily overcome the monster as we walk out of the darkened theater we feel more in control for a little while of what ever fear of monsters

lurk within our own lives monsters are not always see for however frankenstein's monster frankenstein's monster was cruel only out of ignorance watching the original carl of movie you feel pity for the port richey monster who's really an innocent victim of his creator and then think about another lovable monster king kong the true tragic figure whose pure love for the beautiful maidens led him to his death and dragons are for slain only in our western culture in oriental culture dragons monsters their benevolent friendly creatures i say who wrote for monsters calling the monsters without can give us for a little while at least a feeling that quelled the monsters within you know i'd like to speak to you tonight on behalf of myself and the libertarian party are no americans are anxious for a new generation a new political order so to speak in washington the intrusiveness of expansive government is totally out of control and

the democrat republican parties are failing to do anything about it in fact they're responsible for they run from their responsibilities and leaving the american taxpayer and the taxpayer of statins is holding the bag the federal budget deficit far far above the figures that were released by the government currently about four point seven trillion believe libertarians have a plan to pay off the national debt by selling off excess i needed federal lands mostly in western states and this would return these lands to stay steady their property tax base it will be paid off and the privatization and finding a social security medicare medicaid these things are continually coming up the government has failed to properly fund for these things and the government needs to be completely out of medicine and pinch so called

pension funds the plan proposed by jerry brown as we navigated by myself and that will eliminate this day at this deficit and it would do it soon not even five years or seven years perhaps three years or four years this has to be done so that we don't pass on a burden so crushing debt your children chant and grandchildren they should not be forced to pay for the expenses we have made today and over the past few decades libertarians offer many things different from the other candidates who would like to in the war on drugs by legalization and regulation we plan on restoring constitutionally correct money and currency backed by heart medals gold and silver perhaps platinum we want to eliminate foreign aid welfare for individuals corporations and culture they wanted the

federal government out of education out of labor out of housing because we have these areas are traceable directly to government intervention vote for a libertarian is a vote for liberty and please vote for me stephen was ill for united states senate thank you