Now that the dust has settled from the U.S. Senate candidate debate sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club, one factor has clearly emerged: Libertarian Party candidate Amanda Swafford is in over her head when it comes to addressing specific public policy solutions. She has been polling at around 4 percent. After this latest lackluster performance, it is conceivable that she has lost thousands of potential votes– with the defections going to Republican David Perdue. By any objective measure, Perdue gave a far more persuasive libertarian (with a small “l”) case for limited government, less regulation, less taxes and more liberty than Swafford did. (And libertarian Republican Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is pointedly endorsing Perdue, not Swafford.) In a close race, defections from Swafford to Perdue are crucial.
Democrat Michelle Nunn slugged it out with Perdue on key domestic issues, and vice versa. Both gave as good as they got, so the debate could be considered a draw. Perdue took the opportunity, however, to finally and effectively counter the repeated allegation in Nunn TV ads that he “outsourced” jobs as a businessman.
Perdue stressed that he produced far more jobs when he was CEO of Dollar General and other companies than were lost. He differentiated between “outsourcing” products overseas as opposed to jobs overseas. The Republican also made an interesting observation: If elected he would be “only one of 10 people in the U.S. Senate with any business experience.”
While Nunn appeared extremely pleasant and confident, she couldn’t escape being repeatedly tied to President Barack Obama and the unpopularity of his policies. She never mentioned what she would do about Obamacare, and even claimed she disagreed with the president’s opposition to the Keystone oil pipeline project and Obama’s “irresponsible” defense cuts. Yet Nunn refused to say, after repeated questioning, if she would vote for Harry Reid as the Democrat leader should she become a senator. She evasively replied she wasn’t “happy” with both the GOP and Democrat Senate leaders.
Both the Perdue and Nunn camps should be pleased that neither made any major stumbles. Nunn claimed Perdue wouldn’t work across the party aisle, a charge he promptly demolished. And Nunn pasted Perdue for running an ad saying her foundation had assisted in funneling money to a Mideast terrorist group. Yet such back-and-forth sniping probably turned off independent voters who don’t like such “personal” tangling.
Illegal immigration is a big issue in many Senate races. Georgia is no exception since it has more illegal aliens than even Arizona. That is why Perdue opposes amnesty for illegals and stressed again that he is “for a secure border.” The Democrat never talks about border security and simply repeated her support for a Senate “comprehensive” immigration reform bill which grants amnesty and eventual citizenship for countless millions of illegal aliens. That is a misstep by Nunn, with polls showing even a majority of Democrats opposing amnesty (let alone Republicans). Perdue should continue to capitalize on her weakness when it comes to border and homeland security.
