This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 18, 2012 - Amid dueling polls, Missouri’s two major candidates for the U.S. Senate made sure Thursday night to get in most of their best new attacks during what is likely to be their first and only statewide televised debate.
U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., cited Republican rival Todd Akin's votes to raise his own pay, while also voting to cut spending for veterans, school lunches and the farm bill. She also said that Akin pays his women staff members 23 percent less than male employees.
Akin, a congressman from Wildwood, countered repeatedly with McCaskill’s votes in favor of the Affordable Care Act – also known as "Obamacare" – despite its unpopularity in Missouri. He also brought up in his closing statement the $39 million in low-income housing subsidies that went to projects in which her husband has financial interests.
Neither McCaskill nor Akin brought up his volatile “legitimate rape” comments that transformed their contest two months ago.
The questioners for the debate didn’t either.
Akin's comment, and the furor it produced, had been the first question posed to the candidates at their only previous joint appearance, the Sept. 21 forum in Columbia, Mo., before the Missouri Press Association.
McCaskill told reporters Thursday night that she was surprised the rape issue didn’t come up this time. She added that she thought it would be “piling on’’ for her to do so since the questioners ignored it.
Akin declined to talk to reporters afterward, but campaign consultant Rick Tyler said that the congressman had apologized for his comments in which he had asserted that victims of "legitimate rape'' rarely get pregnant because of their bodies' alleged natural defenses. Tyler drily noted that his statement is now the focus of Democratic attack ads running on TV stations all over the state.
Tyler said the congressman opted to skip the scheduled post-debate meeting with reporters because of the Cardinals playoff game, prompting complaints from the press and McCaskill's staff, who cited a debate agreement to do so.
The 60-minute debate was formal, with little interchange between the candidates. Questions came from a panel and from audience members. Held at Clayton High School, the hosts include KSDK-TV (Channel 5), the St. Louis Business Journal and St. Louis Public Radio. The Clayton Chamber of Commerce was the sponsor.
McCaskil has been in office since 2007 and, earlier, was Missouri state auditor from 1999 to 2007. Akin has been in the U.S. House since 2001, and earlier was in the state House.
Little on-camera response to new jabs
Aside from the new attacks, Akin and McCaskill generally kept to the themes they’ve repeated for months:
- Akin said McCaskill is too tied to President Barack Obama and too supportive of government spending;
- She says Akin is “too extreme’’ with his opposition to the minimum wage, his support for transforming Medicare into a voucher program, and his objections to federal involvement in providing low-cost student loans.
McCaskill reaffirmed her support for Obama, while emphasizing that she and the president have their differences -- from the spending caps that she backs (Obama does not) to her opposition to “cap and trade,” which the administration has supported.
“Some think that because I support President Obama that I agreed with him 98 percent of the time,’’ McCaskill said. “I don’t even agree with my mother 98 percent of the time.”
Akin, in turn, didn’t respond point by point to most of McCaskill’s attacks. Rather, he said that his various positions – he referred indirectly to his call for eliminating the Department of Education – reflected his religious convictions in favor of freedom, “respect (for) life and liberty’’ and “the pursuit of happiness.”
Akin also asserted that the federal policies backed by McCaskill and the president have created a “failed economic mess."
"I see the bright hope for America is being diminished,'' he said.
Neither Akin nor Tyler responded to McCaskill’s attacks about the congressman’s votes to raise his own pay, for which she included the specific dates; nor did he respond to her accusation about differences in his staff’s pay.
McCaskill told reporters that her point was to highlight Akin’s comments against federal laws guaranteeing equal pay.
To back up her assertion, her campaign issued a statement detailing its tabulations. "Over his 12 years in Congress, Akin paid his male staffers an average of $15,872.12 per quarter, while paying his female staffers an average of $12,872.12 per quarter," McCaskill's campaign said. "That represents a discrepancy of $14,880.20 per year. On average, Akin paid his female staffers 23.4 percent less than he paid his male staffers."
But later, Akin's district director Steve Taylor said that McCaskill's figures do not reflect the staff's current pay structure. “Reviewing the payroll as reported by Legistorm for the last quarter (April 1st- June 30th) I have determined that per capita female staffers are paid an average of $3,158.33 per quarter more than male staffers," Taylor said.
"The claim that women on average are paid less in Akin's office is factually incorrect," he added. Taylor noted that Akin currently has a woman chief of staff.
McCaskill contended that Akin had unfairly attacked her husband’s business dealings during his closing statement, giving her no chance to respond on television. She reaffirmed that the Associated Press and other news outlets have found no evidence that she played any role in the federal contracts to the low-income housing projects where her husband has a financial interest.
Akin contended that McCaskill "has gotten rich'' from federal money.
She has disputed any assertion that the family received the $39 million, with her financial disclosure reports showing that her husband’s income from the projects was no more than $2.6 million. The campaign has contended that income largely came from unsubsidized units in the same housing developments.
Stem cell research and Medicare
Among the questions fielded by the pair was one asking for their opinions on stem cell research. McCaskill said she supported all forms of stem cell research, while Akin made clear that he supported some types of stem cell research -- but not embryonic stem cell research.
The two once again sparred over the Affordable Care Act's projected $716 billion in savings over 10 years in the Medicare program. Akin contended that the savings will require cuts in services to the elderly and cited the act's estimated savings in reimbursements to hospitals, physicians and inhome health-care programs.
McCaskill replied that the savings had been agreed upon by the health entities because in exchange they would receive payments for people now without insurance who are treated for free.
She also pointed out that Akin voted for now-GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan's proposed budget that included the same $716 billion in savings. The difference, said McCaskill, was that the Republican budget uses the savings to "pay for tax cuts for Kim Kardashian'' and other wealthy people.
FEC reports show McCaskill has 4-1 edge in the bank
Right after the debate, both candidates released the summary sheets for their latest campaign finance reports, filed earlier this week. The reports span three months, ending Sept. 30.
McCaskill reported raising $5.8 million since July 1, spending $7.3 million, with $2.13 million in the bank as of Sept. 30.
Akin reported raising $1.6 million during the same period, spending $1.58 million, with $553,410 left in the bank.
