Debate recap: Candidates clash over women's issues, foreign aid

Candidates in the Missouri, Connecticut, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin races sparred in contentious debates on Thursday night.

MISSOURI
The final debate of the Missouri Senate race was largely cordial and avoided the controversial comments made by Rep. Todd Akin (R) that has brought this race national scrutiny. Instead, he and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) sparred on education, foreign aid and women's issues, with the debate largely framed by their disagreement on the role of government.

Both repeated old attacks — Akin charged that McCaskill personally benefited from stimulus funds she supported in Congress, and that she's a rubber stamp for President Obama's agenda, while McCaskill charged that Akin was extreme and defended the role of the federal government in certain situations, like education. She also noted that Akin paid his female staff less than his male staff, looking at data from 2001-2010, but Akin's campaign pointed out that women made more than men in his office over the last quarter.

And Akin suffered a Rick Perry moment when he targeted McCaskill's support for foreign aid to three countries but couldn't remember the third.

Though McCaskill has pulled ahead by 6 points in the past two polls, the race is by no means over, and Akin is expected to continue to give her a fierce challenge until Election Day. The debate likely swayed few, as many Missourians were busy watching their Cardinals take a 3-1 series lead over the San Francisco Giants.

WISCONSIN
Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) and Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) sparred over healthcare, the economy and Iran in a testy debate.

Both criticized the other on healthcare while distancing themselves from their own past statements — Baldwin said she wanted to keep Medicare intact and accused Thompson of running the program “into the ground” during his time as secretary of Health and Human Services, and avoided discussing her support of a single-payer, government-run healthcare system. Thompson said he wanted to reform Medicare and avoided restating a comment he made during the primary that he would be the best candidate to “to come up with programs to do away with Medicare and Medicaid.”

Thompson hit Baldwin for voting against Iran sanctions. She said she’d only done so while she thought the country’s “green revolution” stood a chance, and hit him for owning stock in companies that worked in Iran. He said he’d sold the stock as soon as he knew about it.

The two are neck and neck in the polls, though Thompson has had the momentum in recent days.

CONNECTICUT
Republican Linda McMahon and Rep. Chris Murphy (D) engaged in as contentious a debate as ever, clashing on many of the issues that have already characterized the campaign and covering little new ground.

Murphy has attacked McMahon on Social Security, accusing her of wanting to phase it out over the long term, and she said during the debate that she hadn't offered specifics on how to reform Social Security and Medicare because she'd "get demagogued" on the campaign trail. They also sparred over women's issues, with Murphy charging that McMahon would back an "anti-woman, Tea Party agenda" if she were elected, while McMahon asserted that she is pro-choice and wouldn't support an effort to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

McMahon faced a 20-point deficit with women during her 2010 bid, and though she's worked to shore up support among female voters, recent polls seem to indicate she might be facing trouble with that demographic group again.

The race remains close, with most recent polls showing Murphy slightly ahead, but McMahon's considerable personal wealth will make it easy for her to continue to hammer him in the final weeks of the campaign.

OHIO
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) and Republican Josh Mandel have traded fierce attacks throughout the extent of the Ohio Senate race, and their second debate was par for the combative course.

Mandel charged, as he's done throughout the race, that Brown has become a part of the Washington establishment and uses "Washington-speak" to distract from his failed record, which Mandel said included higher prices for healthcare and gas and an increase in unemployment and foreclosure. Brown hit back with criticism of Mandel's position against the auto bailout and multiple meetings he's missed during his time as state treasurer.

At one point in the debate, the two candidates became particularly testy, with Mandel calling Brown a "liar" after Brown hammered him on his attendance record. Brown, in response, referenced Mandel's "pants on fire crown" award, given to him by the Cleveland Plain Dealer for receiving more "pants-on-fire" rankings for his statements than any other politician this cycle.

The state is one of the top presidential battlegrounds, but Brown has maintained a consistent lead over Mandel for the extent of their campaign.

VIRGINIA
Former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) and former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) spent their final debate doing the same thing they've been doing for more than a year: painting the other as an ineffectual partisan.

Allen attacked Kaine for being Obama's hand-picked Democratic National Committee chairman, as well as on the looming defense cuts put in place by the bipartisan deal to raise the debt ceiling, and his support of climate change legislation.

Kaine fired back by saying he'd worked with President George W. Bush on issues as well, said Allen had been a lockstep vote for the GOP while in the Senate, argued Allen has a "different view on science" that means he doesn't believe in human-caused climate change, and laid out his plan to avoid the defense sequestration cuts while blasting Allen for overspending in the Senate.

Their last of five Senate debates rehashed many of the attacks the two have already made and is unlikely to affect the race much. Kaine has had a narrow lead in most recent polling.

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