2nd District candidates square off

PORTLAND — After months of dancing around the ring, the two independent candidates in the 2nd District congressional race finally slipped off their gloves Thursday.

During an otherwise routine debate, Green Party candidate Charles FitzGerald and independent John Michael tagged the two party nominees as lackeys of big business and special interests.

When asked about bright spots in the district for possible job creation, Republican state Rep. Rick Bennett said he would allow small-business owners more leeway in deciding how to invest their profits. Like the others, Bennett said he favored reducing the tax burden on small businesses to help spark growth.

“I still maintain the best people to decide what to do with their money are the people who have it,” Bennett said during the debate, televised live from Channel 13 and broadcast to the crucial Lewiston-Auburn area.

Slight though Bennett’s response was, FitzGerald regarded it as a sponsorship of large corporations, and charged the party candidates as being beholden to “fat cats.”

After all, FitzGerald said, as he turned toward the candidate, Bennett has received large campaign donations from Wall Street, and Democratic candidate John Baldacci has cashed checks from the American Medical Association.

The exchange illustrated what is likely to be an increasingly frequent theme as the campaign enters its last weeks: FitzGerald and Michael — who until this spring was a Democrat — will offer themselves as the only candidates who are politically pure alternatives to the status quo.

“That’s the problem with this system,” FitzGerald chided his opponents. “You’re Republicrats.”

Baldacci answered the charge by pointing out that he has held a series of spaghetti suppers around the district, while Bennett defended himself by recalling his walking tour.

“But you can’t take money from the special interests,” FitzGerald continued. Michael chimed in with a challenge to Bennett and Baldacci to return the $5,000 donations they each received from the National Rifle Association.

“That’s what stinks about this campaign,” Michael said. “That’s what stinks about this political process.”

Later, when moderator Felicia Knight asked the candidates for their views about the two-party system, FitzGerald pointed to Bennett and Baldacci, who flanked him.

“They’re the same, these two gentlemen,” FitzGerald said.

Despite the occasional sparks, the debate was tame as the candidates sought to sell their proposals to hoist the massive 2nd District out of its economic slump.

While FitzGerald focused primarily on restoring the state’s fisheries, all agreed that jobs could be created by removing government obstacles, including high health insurance costs, and by increasing the value of Maine’s exports by completing products in-state.

“It’s surprising,” Bennett said. “Despite the diversity of the district, I hear a lot of common concerns.”

All agreed that as an angry electorate searches for a candidate during the next few weeks, voters are looking for action, not rhetoric.