On Monday September 13th, 2010, rivals Adler and Runyan answered questions at a forum in Mount Laurel, NJ. Both candidates took turns answering questions from the government affairs committee and the audience. Obviously, the candidates did not agree on much and major differences were seen in each candidates stand on fixes for the economy and their ideals on healthcare.
According to the New York Times, in the past, the incumbent voting record has been against the Health Care Bill, and Adler once again, voted against it in this year’s election. Advocates from Adler’s campaign have not only accused Runyan of being vague in his plans for improving healthcare, but they have also accused him of planning to eliminate some of healthcare’s most vital programs. Advocates from Adler’s campaign supported their argument by warning voters and senior citizens that Runyan’s campaign is being funded by party leaders who are in support of privatizing Social Security and Medicare. Adler said, "If you look at the consequence of his tax and spending policy and his affiliation with the people who are supporting his campaign, the inevitable consequence is harm to senior citizens in terms of Social Security and Medicare."
In his defense, on Tuesday September 14th, 2010, Runyan held a press conference in Toms River, NJ to address the lies Adler published in a campaign mailer that accused Runyan of having plans to end Medicare and Social Security if elected to office. Runyan says, "These are programs we need and programs we have to preserve for the future, our future generations, and I've told (Adler) that, time and time again.” Runyan then went on to accuse Adler of resorting to “distasteful” campaign tactics by making personal attacks on him after having 22 years in public office.
Medicare and Social Security are two aspects of healthcare that greatly affect voters, more particularly senior citizens. As I mentioned in my last blog, political scientist Brigid Harrison from Montclair State University revealed that voters really need a candidate who can help them overcome their economic turmoil. I believe that the issue of healthcare will be a critical factor in impacting who will steal the lead in this political race, especially due to the force of the fallen economy on its citizens.
It remains a mystery in my mind as to why these two candidates are so focused on publicly slashing the other while they should be focusing on proving to voters why their platforms will work. Runyan's attempt to counter the attack ads by Adler was weak & hardly offered any substantial evidence that the attack ads were false. It would be strategic for Runyan to focus on developing a golden platform on an issue that seems to be a focus for Adler; the competition and debate would likely help to redirect the focus off of the attack ads.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the reason for their publicly attacking each other is that in reality neither candidate has a particularly good or realistic platform. It is much easier to point out what your opponent is doing wrong, than to convince people that you are actually capable of doing something groundbreaking in the already very complicated area of health care reform.
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