NcDeuce
09-25-2003, 12:02 PM
SACRAMENTO, California (CNN) -- With just 13 days to go before the California gubernatorial recall election, the five leading candidates sparred for 90 minutes Wednesday night in a free-wheeling and pivotal debate that featured, for the first time, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The Republican actor-turned-politician and his rivals -- Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, GOP state Sen. Tom McClintock, independent Arianna Huffington and Peter Camejo of the Green Party -- were allowed to rebut and interrupt each other as they answered questions given to them ahead of time by the debate's sponsor, the California Broadcasters Association.
At one point, as he struggled to keep the conversation on point, exasperated moderator Stan Statham said, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is not Comedy Central. I swear."
Schwarzenegger, making his lone scheduled debate appearance of the campaign, emphasized his signature issue of trying to improve the state's business climate, which he said was now the worst "anywhere in the nation."
"When we bring jobs back and the economy is booming, then we create more revenue and then we can afford some of the programs and pay off the debt," he said.
Bustamante, meanwhile, pushed his "tough love" program for combating the state's fiscal woes, including raising income taxes for high-income Californians and hikes in tobacco and alcohol taxes.
"I've decided to face this realistically, to deal with it practically, to understand it and not to tell half truths about what we're likely to be able to do," he said. "We've done all the easy things, and now it's time to do the tough things."
The lieutenant governor also conceded that the state's financial problems were the result of politicians in Sacramento who "spent too much."
Schwarzenegger quickly pounced on the idea of fixing past overspending with higher taxes.
"The politicians make a mistake. They keep spending and spending and spending. Then when they realize they made a mistake and they spend the money they don't even have, then go out and tax, tax, tax," he said.
"You guys have an addiction problem. You should go to an addiction place because you cannot stop spending."
Most of the fireworks during the debate weren't between Bustamante and Schwarzenegger, who are running first and second in the polls, but between Schwarzenegger and Huffington.
When she criticized GOP support for corporate tax loopholes, Schwarzenegger responded that he could "drive my Hummer" through the loopholes she used to pay negligible personal income tax during the last two years.
The Republican actor-turned-politician and his rivals -- Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, GOP state Sen. Tom McClintock, independent Arianna Huffington and Peter Camejo of the Green Party -- were allowed to rebut and interrupt each other as they answered questions given to them ahead of time by the debate's sponsor, the California Broadcasters Association.
At one point, as he struggled to keep the conversation on point, exasperated moderator Stan Statham said, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is not Comedy Central. I swear."
Schwarzenegger, making his lone scheduled debate appearance of the campaign, emphasized his signature issue of trying to improve the state's business climate, which he said was now the worst "anywhere in the nation."
"When we bring jobs back and the economy is booming, then we create more revenue and then we can afford some of the programs and pay off the debt," he said.
Bustamante, meanwhile, pushed his "tough love" program for combating the state's fiscal woes, including raising income taxes for high-income Californians and hikes in tobacco and alcohol taxes.
"I've decided to face this realistically, to deal with it practically, to understand it and not to tell half truths about what we're likely to be able to do," he said. "We've done all the easy things, and now it's time to do the tough things."
The lieutenant governor also conceded that the state's financial problems were the result of politicians in Sacramento who "spent too much."
Schwarzenegger quickly pounced on the idea of fixing past overspending with higher taxes.
"The politicians make a mistake. They keep spending and spending and spending. Then when they realize they made a mistake and they spend the money they don't even have, then go out and tax, tax, tax," he said.
"You guys have an addiction problem. You should go to an addiction place because you cannot stop spending."
Most of the fireworks during the debate weren't between Bustamante and Schwarzenegger, who are running first and second in the polls, but between Schwarzenegger and Huffington.
When she criticized GOP support for corporate tax loopholes, Schwarzenegger responded that he could "drive my Hummer" through the loopholes she used to pay negligible personal income tax during the last two years.