7:42 – Question 17 for Kaptur: Has the trend towards early voting changed the way you’ve campaigned?
7:42 – Kaptur says the campaign ads start flying quicker because of early voting. Follow-up on whether Kaptur encourages people to vote early. She says she thinks both parties are doing that. She thinks early voting satisfies the needs of a much larger segment of the public.
7:43 – Iott says the FEC reports show that 71 percent of Kaptur’s fundraising comes from outside the state, whereas 97 percent of his came from within the state. Kaptur interrupts and tells him he’s wrong. He says it’s a correct statement, and the majority of the donations come from PACs and unions and defense contractors. That was a moment of clear heat.
7:44 – Question 18 for Iott: What would you say is your biggest failure and what did you learn from it?
7:45 – Iott says there isn’t enough time to discuss that. Says his biggest failure was to wait so long to try and track down his birth mother. He was adopted. Wow. This is a heartfelt answer. Says that ultimately he did, and he was grateful because he had an opportunity that most adopted children never have. He sounds really human in this answer, and it’s a much better one than Kaptur gave – probably Iott’s strongest moment of the night. Throws in an awkward jab at Obamacare in re abortion.
7:46 – Kaptur says Iott’s wrong about the health care bill having Federal funding for abortion. Says it’s too bad that she has an opponent that continues to twist the facts. Talks about the meaningless Obama executive order decision. Thinks it’s a lowly move to try to mix his personal affairs with public policy. …Yeah, no.
7:47 – Question 19 for Kaptur: Politics is very polarized lately. Do you see the independent voter, or middle-of-the-road voter being left out?
7:47 – Kaptur says office-seeking at the Federal level, implying fundraising, has become polarized because of outside money. Ohhhh boy. Says members are poised against one another in a way they weren’t when she was first elected. Says the reason for so much acid being inside the institution is that everyone’s at each others’ throats. Says independent voters don’t feel comfortable because they don’t want all the static, and so they disengage, which is unhealthy. Hits Iott for talking about her PAC donations, and says she has a lot of small donations, and says his advisors need to look at the pages of her donations that are for small donations. Hits Iott for being a self-funder.
7:49 – Iott responds that while Kaptur may find it offensive that he pays for his own campaign, it’s because he’s willing to invest in the country. A bit hokey, but a good counterpunch. Says he doesn’t understand why, when both houses are controlled by the Democrats, they would decide to go home and campaign rather than work out the Bush taxes. Hits Kaptur for voting to go home, and says that had she voted the other way, it would be resolved.
7:51 – Question 20 for Iott – last question: If you were in Congress right now, would you continue all the tax cuts, or just not for the top percent?
7:51 – Iott says the top group is extremely important for small business that file as independent individual filers, and so he’d keep the tax breaks. Says the tax breaks wouldn’t cost anything because the Government isn’t getting the money as it is.
7:52 – Kaptur says she’d support tax cuts up to $250,000 for joint and $200,000 for individuals. Mentions big bankers and Ruper Murdoch as examples of other people who would get it if extended for everyone. Talks about the fake $700 billion price tag. It’s not your money to begin with, Congresswoman.
7:53 – Kaptur gets first closing statement. Sucks up to the press and audience again. Goes negative the entire time, hitting Iott for not supporting minimum wage and the auto bailout. Talks about NAFTA. Says she supports preserving Social Security and Medicare, not privatizing it. Says she supports accountability for Wall Street. Says she will support helping the housing sector if given the opportunity. Says she wants to move forward. Sounds ridiculously populist and hokey – really going for the Soccer Mom image.
7:55 – Iott gets his closing statement. Sucks up to the press and audience one final time. Says he’s going to emphasize what people already know to be true. Says changes in the economy will only come if you change the way Washington runs. Talks about unprecedented spending by Congress and says you need to do a hard course correction and do it fast. Says he’s there to act, and the time to do it is now. Not as strong on rhetoric as Kaptur. Says they can get this done together.