Coleman, Franken begin debate season
Kylie Saari — Staff WriterREDWOOD FALLS - Minnesota's candidates for the U.S. Senate faced off Tuesday in this election season's first debate.
The candidates appeared before a standing-room-only crowd at FarmFest 2008 on the Gilfillan Farm near Redwood Falls.
Despite the moderator's request for quiet from the audience, applause and affirmative shouts for each candidate made their way through the crowd, along with one instance of an audience member shouting at Republican Norm Coleman to stop talking because Coleman went over his one-minute response limit.
The debate was mostly mild-mannered, although Democrat Al Franken and Coleman did exchange heated words over some issues, specifically Coleman's voting record.
Franken accused Coleman of being in George W. Bush's pocket and driving the economy down with bad decisions. Coleman defended his record and emphasized votes to override presidential vetoes, such as on the recently passed Farm Bill.
This thrust and parry took part largely without interference from the two Independence Party candidates, former U.S. Sen. Dean Barkley and Steve Williams. The two candidates held their own, but stayed out of the war of words between Coleman and Franken.
The topic of the debate was agriculture and rural issues, but energy issues took leaped to the forefront.
Coleman's stand on energy independence is that it can come only when every option is utilized.
"You have to have it all," he said. "We gotta tap into domestic productions, open up 85 percent of the outer continental shelf, we gotta do shale oil, clean coal. Nuclear, we gotta do more nuclear, we gotta do renewable, we have to do the whole ball of wax, and when we do that, we will no longer be held hostage to Saudi sheiks and others who are not our friends."
Franken focused on renewable energy, especially ethanol and wind farms, calling them a "win, win, win" for everyone involved.
"We need to make rural Minnesota the epicenter and engine of the new renewable energy economy," he said. "That means ethanol, biofuels, and it means biodiesel and the next generation of biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, and it means having wind and wind tax credits farmers can use on earned income. This is win, win, win if we go to renewable energy."
Franken believes the government should aggressively fund the renewable energy industry.
He also drew a parallel to the price of oil tripling and the cost of gas doubling since Coleman has been senator, to which Coleman responded, "The price of gas has just about doubled since (Democrat) Nancy Pelosi has been Speaker of the House."
Two things all four candidates agreed on is the possibility of increasing the use of nuclear power, with Barkley pointing out that the French use nuclear power and reprocess the solid waste. They also agreed on the positive aspects and potential uses of Conservation Reserve Program land that will be coming out of contracts with the federal government in the next few years.
Williams, who is a farmer, says he has CRP land on his farm and finds the program rewarding. Although he doesn't believe the land should be made available for crops, he is open to using the land for grazing animals.
