we can achieve. thank you very much.

>> formal middle east peace talks begin today at the state department with representations between israeli and palestinian leaders. we'll have live coverage from the state department beginning at 10 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> search the term mideast peace on line in the c-span library and you'll get more than 1700 programs and transcripts. interviews, pan als and forums. all free, on line. it's washington and the world, your way. >> california senate candidates participated in their first debate last night on the campus

of st. mary's college in california. this is an hour. >> the senior political reporter and ktvu-tv host.

time to introduce the candidates. please welcome senator barbara boxer and carlie feorina. >> senator barbara bofrm served three terms in the senate. carlie is running for the first time. her background is in business. thank you both for joining us tonight. let's get started

>> it is great to be with all of you here. thank you for letting us into your home this evening. i started out like most businesses do in a small business. i typed, answered phones for a small company. my husband started out driving a pittsburgh for the city of pennsylvania. i am running for public office now because i like most of you think our country is headed in the wrong direction. frank and i are worried our two granddaughters will not have the same opportunity we had. i have created jobs. i have cut spending and solved problems.

i think we need some common sense and practical problem solving. barbara boxer has been in washington, d.c. for 28 years. she may say many things to night. her track record is clear. the results of her policies are devastating for this state. in the last 20 months alone, unemployment has grown, debt has grown on its way to $20 trillion. she may say she is fighting for cal forrians. but the truth is she is fighting hardest for another six years in washington, d.c. >> it is wonderful to be here. thanks you to the good people in the state of california for putting their faith in me. for our children, the first ever

after school program, for our veterans, the virs of casualty care center. we have doubled the transportation funding. that means thousands of jobs. jobs are my focus. i'm working to make california the hub of the new clean energy economy and making sure small business gets access to credit and i'm working to stop tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas. when she was ceo of hp before she was terminated, she shipped 30,000 jobs overseas. that's the size of foster city. through all that pain, what did she do? she took $100 million.

that reminds me of wall street. bonuses at the top. pain for everything else. i want to see the words "made in america again. i ask for your vote. >> a few guidelines. you both get up to 90 seconds to answer a question. >> a small business job. how do you justify immediate

help for the wealthiest mernz but not average californiians who may be out of a job? >> we need to start by describing what the 2001-2003 tax cuts really were. tax cut that's will expire in january. those reliefs went to middle class americans. the average family will pay up to $1600 more in taxes. it is true small business owners are struggling under the weight of businesses. senator box er has struggled nr weight of small businesses. we have 88,000 farms in this great state. most are family owned. to create jobs, we need to make sure in particular, our small businesses, family owned

businesses, entrepreneurs are freed from strange willing administration. this is the worst crisis in this state. we have 12 metropolitan areas with unemployment above 15%. we have 23 county was unemployment above 15%. in the last 20 months, the federal government spending has increased 10% each year and federal government employees have increased 14.5% in the last two years. >> i'd like to go back to the question. it's important. we have 16, 500 teachers get pink slips in the mail.

they were going to not be in the classroom. what's more important than our children. i'm a product of public schools. 95% of our kids go to public schools. this was a bill paid for. my opponent actualed that bill where we saved these teacher jobs a sdis grace. she called it disgraceful. we paid for that bill. it was deficit neutral because we paid for it by stopping some tax breaks from company that's ship jobs overseas. you see my opponent fighting for the companies and billionaires and companies shipping jobs overseas, she opposes the small business association that everybody supports. >> the next question for senator

boxer. >> last night, president obama officially ended the u.s. combat mission in iraq. during the course of that war many americans died and many came home with disabilities. do you think the war was worth the cost? >> i was one of about 23 that did not vote for that war. i did support the troops. i voted for 85% of all the spending bills that we had. even though i had disagreements on that war. when i opposed any of those bills, it was because it wasn't good enough. i'm so glad they are coming back.

we have to take care of them.

they have terrible injuries and wounds. i just wept to that care center. >> the time is up. >> a quick follow up before we go to the answer. if the president doesn't come up with a written time line, will you call him out on that as you did of president bush? you haven't been as critical of president obama it's a matter of we need to rebuild america. >> senator boxer's last two

answers are a perfect look at rhetoric versus reality. she voted against body armor and support for brain trauma and post-tramatic stress syndrome and extended family leave. the vote that she cast so upset then senator joe biden that she said this is a political vote, noeg is worse in that case, his two son's life. the truth is the small business bill she discussed could have been a great bill. but they through in tarp junior. as for the teacher's bill, we are playing political football with taxpayer money. sacramento and washington, d.c. have been fighting over who gets to spend that money and the vast

majority of teachers won't be employed until 2012. >> every year, 65,000 men and women graduate from high school in the u.s. they were brought here illegally when they were children. they are undocumented through no fault of ire own. would you send them all back to countries they never knew or would you create add legislation? >> i believe the 21st century is the century of brain power. we need to make sure people are well educated here. i would support the dream act. i do not believe we can punish

children who through no fault of their own are here trying to live the american dream. i do not support am necessity ti for those who have come here illegally. i bloeb the government has the secure the border and they have not done their job. senator boxer has vilified the people of arizona even though the government is not doing its job. she was the deciding vote that killed the guest worker program. when she voted for the amendment that killed that program, her comment was that i am grants ript a cheap source of labor that threaten the american worker. if you look at her long track record of 28 years, you will see

she is for more taxes and more spending, more regulation and also for a government and elite, extreme environmental groups. >> i am very proud of my record for veterans. i have a record which won me an award from doctors trying to find out better treatment for burn victims. i got the first funding for traumatic brain injury. my husband served in the military. i love the military in a personal way. when i want to say about immigration is this. my opponent calls comprehensive immigration reform a disstraks. we have 11 million people here living in the shadows.

and here is where we stand under the law since my opponent feels we shouldn't deal with this issue, they would have to be deported. we had a resent study that said the way to get the economy going again is with comprehensive reform. >> over the past few weeks, we have been sending in questions. right now, we are going to shift the gears. coming from a democrat in oakland. >> senator boxer, why don't you let other people try?

>> my answer is every election is a chance. that's what america is about. i have to say that our founders decided to put the power in the hands of the people. the people have to vote. i have been so fortunate. i'm a first generation american on my mother's side. my mother never grd wait frommed high school. i'm in the united states senate. why? i foit for people and the dream. every time i run, i have a tough fight on my hands and people are going to decide if they want to have me back or if they want to elect someone who made her name as ceo of h. p. laying thousands

of people off and sending thousands of jobs overseas and taking $100 million. every race i run in, there's a clear choice on jobs, on the issue of off shore oil drilling, the issue of a woman's right to choose. >> i think it is a good quest n question. the choice is up to voters. one of the things that voters believe is that we don't count. in her 18 years in the senate, senator boxer has four bill was her name on them. four pieces of legislation that is far below the record or average. those include naming a river in virginia , naming a courthouse, renaming a post office and bringing some federal dollars back to the bay area after the

earth earthquake. it's all well and good for senator boxer to misrepresent my record. ly remind her it was she that voted for the wall street bail out. when you have a business whether 9,000 people business or 9 people, you have to make a choice to loose some jobs to save more. what enrages people everyday is federal government employees growing at 14.5%. >> time is up. our next question comes from a republican. mr. watson is a retired employee from hewlet packard.

you coined the phrase right shoring. do you plan to create jobs in >> california is destroying jobs. texas is fighting harder, north carolina is. so is mexico, russia, china. i'll tell you why.

china, texas, brazil gives companies huge tax credits and reward r&d and provide access to credit. i propose a two-year payroll tax holiday for every business for hiring an unemployed worker and five-year tax holiday for companies to bring them here. bring their plants back home and hire american workers. let us decide we are going to be number one in innovation. we have fallen to 17th in the world.

i don't think there are enough people in washington who even understand why these private jobs are created. >> in the past, it says school teachers should have their pay connected to performance. when you were at hp, the stock market dropping, you got a receive rans of $21 million. you have people that would say, gee, shouldn't ceos focus on the people. during the time i ripped up my contract and put my pay up for share holder vote. every dollar was tied to performance.

we doubled the size of production and tripled. >> we have to move on. >> there was a $21 million check. the stock went down more than 50%. if she's calling for account ability of teachers, there ought to be account ability for ceos. if ever we needed a united states senator from california to fight for american jobs, it's now. my opponent will ship jobs

overseas. we also know she has opposed every jobs bill that we voted on. she opposed that. she opposed the teachers. bringing back 16500 teachers to the classroom. she opposed that. she opposed wall street reform. >> time is up. >> senator, manufacture our readers asked us to ask you this regarding one of the often repeated clips on the internet in which you and the general michael walsh and you told him you should be called senator. a lot of leaders said it showed you have gotten out of touch.

why did you make that comment? >> i'm certainly pleased to hear senator boxer called the general

and asked if she needed to apologize. if he indicates he wasn't offended. i agree that we are not entitled to our own facts. one of the great companies in the world whose employees work very hard and whose share holders have benefited greatly from my time as ceo and all of the hard work. it is a shame she would use that company as a political football. i understand she is going to miss characterize my record but as for wall street reform. the wall street crisis hit and it turns out there's 20 agencies hit but what the wall street

reform did was say never mind those agencies were the problem. we are going to create a brand new agency. >> time is up. i've noticed boevenlg you are drifting off the question to answer something. if you could answer the question directly, that would be great. >> scott, you have a question. you supported proposition 8 and say marriage should be between one man and one woman and that partnerships should not be recognized. and denying benefits like social security. my question is this, should federal law be changed to allow for equal status for same sex couples?

>> i do believe that marriage is between a man and woman but i have been clear that i support civil unions. the defensive marriage act has common support. the position is consistent with our president and the vast majority of the senate. when we are seeing on proposition 8 is that voters were clear for that decision to be determined by a single judge, this is now appropriate. i support very much of don't

ask, don't tell. >> we do have ways to check the legislature. a lot of the laws we passed may well go through that. i think and i'm glad to say i believe people are coming around. i also will just say in terms of

what we heard about the fact that i shouldn't talk about my opponent's days at hp. she's running on her record. >> senator, it appears voters tend to look at senator feinstein working with the other side of the aisle. >> yes, i can. first, let me say i am a co-sponsor of 500 republican bills. the after school bill was done with a republican colleague with

president obama, at this point, i do believe we need an exit strategy as you know, people don't read all that fine print. we need to have somebody looking over the shoulder of the bench. it set up suspect of the consumer agency. for the first time, you'll be able to have somebody looking out for you make sure you get treated fairly on your mortgage >> thank you. we both need to run on our

record i am proud to run on my record. she only has four relatively iing can't bills with her name on them. it's called the most expensive peace in history

>> thank you. >> you are prolife and you believe life begins at conception. does that mean you would seek to deny companies who seek to understand stem cell research. >> i am prolife. my husband's mother was told to a bort him. she did not. she lived to a ripe old age of 92. my husband is the rock of my life. with regard to your very spif yik question, i am comfortable

with federal funding for adult stem cell research which shows more promise. i have been clear in saying if embryos were going to be destroyed, i have no trouble with research. it's when embryos are produced for the purpose of sdruks where i have a deal of difficulty. the judge has come out suggesting that we don't have clear enough guidelines. senator boxer suggested a ban on human cloning. her positions on these issues are extreme. she has said she doesn't think a baby has rights until it leaves the hospital. >> the judge has said we need to have some clarity about these rules. >> before the senator gets a

chance to reply, real question, you do suggest that we overturn roe v. wade? >> if there is an opportunity. i'm a strong believer of state rights. voters have to make some of these difficult decisions i am prepare $to trust the voters on off shore drilling and the right to choose. i respect everybody's personal view. i respect it. that's why i'm pro-choice. what the people of california have to understand is that if her views prevailed. women and doctors would go to

jail. and women would die like they did from roe v. wade. this is about the women and families the fact is 1,000 boxer provisions have been enacted. we have them on barbara bovm domenici. the way she is accounting bill;. neither of them would have gotten credit. the way a bill becomes a law

goes like such -- >> time is up. >> we are taking responsibility and action. i talked about a number of those things all we need is one republican to get that bill done. think we are going to get that done. then we can create many new jobs. you have to look at history or

you'll repeat it. i served eight years with president clinton. we balanced the budget and created a surplus. then i served eight years with president bush. we wound up with a $1.3 trillion deficit and the worst job creation record since hoover. we didn't get here overnight. but job by job by job, we are going to stop it. there's a man working because of the recovery act on doyle drive. yes, we are taking

responsibility. but people in this country and my state have to get the whole picture. >> thank you. >> recovering summer has become the summer of despair in california. our unemployment rate has gone from 10.2% to 12.3% she has

voted to slow the rate of increase in government spending. her record is clear you have said these should be suspended what is your position. do you think global warming is real or just a problem with the weather? the add you are referring to is really talking about national

security that is a legitimate question. she believed terrorists should be given the rights of citizens. all science must agree on this. the only way to impact global warming is to impact global warming. when we need in this country a priority of mind will be a national and comprehensive energy bill. that means this would have been super seeded, her bill was completely the wrong track and

would have cost us millions. it doesn't do enough to fund energy. we need to give more in spending we have to acknowledge that we do not put bills in place time is up but you didn't answer part of the question which is do you support prop 23? >> my focus is on a national energy policy. >> yes or no? >> do you support it? >> i have not taken a position yet. there's no question in my mind

that av 32 in the short term a job killer. if you can't take a stance on prop 23, i don't know what you will take a stand on. that could mean china takes the lead. but my open own gnat is used to creating jobs in other places. i want to see the words made in america once again.

if my opponent gets there. in billy wrote ever superseded this next question is for senator boxer. an undergraduate here. she refers to herself as an independent. >> growing up on a small farm in the central valley, one thing that shocks me is that the largest and wedgeiest business collect 74% of the farm subsidies while small family farms are unable to share in

these. we were able to get the recognition of specialty crops there are very big specialties. i fought hard to change those. we want to make sure that the estate tax does not kick in for a family farm where a family continues the farming. if you are a huge farm, that's

different. if you really are a family farm, you shouldn't have to pay that tax. those are a lot of great words her track record is clear. our 88,000 farms here in california. mostly family owned struggled with water with a lack of water, senator boxer refused to lift a finger. when a colleague butt that amendment forward, she voted against it. senator feinstein voted to put that amendment on the table, she

pressured her colleagues to drop that amendment. here is the truth. they have stood in her way and she has over and over again refused to give them debt tax relief. this question comes from democrats and has to do with gun and air planes. something you talked about in a primary debate. >> i know it sounds so strange but let's talk about the no fly list for a moment.

my sister in-law was on the no fly list. my friend of 20 years husband was on the no-fly list. it isn't well managed. people that should be on it are not on it. here is the truth. we should not be taking rights away from citizens. at the same time, giving rights to terrorists let us prosecute the criminals but give rights to trorts as senator boxer wants to

do. i'm sure if your sister wanted a gun, they would look and see that she had that. when i saw my opponent say that, i was watching a debate.

he said oh, my goodness. that was for him getting excited. i think that is so out of step and out of touch. that is just going to harm us and make us less safe. >> we are out of time for full questions with full answers. let me ask something real quick. the assault weapons band is extremely arbitrary in what qualifies. let me say that senator boxer is

confused. the no fly and terrorist watch lift are different things. we want to have our streets safe. we are going to shift to closing statements thank you for the privilege to be here and debate with you.

i have been struck by california's beauty. i remember meeting the immigrant who built the small business from the ground up only to see it ruined with too much taxes and regulation. i remember him looking at me and saying this is not the country i came. and the wm that said i have never voted before but i am voting for you. she said, promise me this. when you get to washington, do

not forget us. i ask for your support and vote. i will go to the u.s. senate and i will fight for the millions of californiians who serve their country. pay their dues you are asking for one simple thing now that we take our government back. make it listen and work. >> you get 2:00s senator boxer. >> you have seen this is a clear

choice. in election is for someone who is fighting for jobs. this election is about someone working hard so we can see the words, made in america, once again versus someone who spent her time at hp sending product to china and india. this is a clear choice between someone fighting for taxes for the middle class and small business versus someone fighting for the wealthy few, the billionaires and ceos. this is a big difference in clean energy. one of us is fighting hard to make california the hub of the new clean energy economy and

millions of jobs that go with us. others are being supported by big oil. this is a choice between a woman's choice. my opponent would turn that woman into a criminal. this is a clear choice between someone who has fault to protect our coast and the 400,000 jobs that rely on the beautiful coast. my opponent does not support the boxer feinstein legislation to protect that coast. finally, this is a choice. a choice between a candidate of wall street reform. someone that opposes that reform. frankly, acting just like a wall street ceo. destroying jobs for americans

and taking it for yourself. i hope we don't go back to that. >> our time is up. >> thank you both. we all apologize for not getting to more questions. hopefully what we've talked about tonight will help people here and viewers at home make informed decisions on what they should do on election day, november 2. thank you to everyone here at st. mary's college. on behalf of ktvu television. thank you for joining us. good night. [applause]

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