it is important only because if there are no operating, coordinating roles >> later this morning, british prime minister david cameron will outline cuts to his country's defense budget. that is live from the house of commons at 10:30 eastern.

now a debate for the west virginia senate state. the state's governor is running against republican businessman john racey. also the mountain party candidate is participating and the constitution party member. west virginia university school moderator -- is the moderator. this is one hour. >> we have assistance tonight

from the women's league of voters pri. mary anne reed is our moderator. >> thank you for joining us for this live debate broadcast on west virginia at pbs and public radio. with the balance of power in congress at stake, the u.s. senate race in west virginia has become one of the races to watch. it is probably no exaggeration to say that the outcome of this election could have a significant impact on important issues facing americans such as health care, the economy, and the environment. the winner of the west virginia senate race will serve the remaining two years of the late robert byrd's term. he is the longest serving senator in u.s. history and he held his seat for 51 years. these are pretty big shoes to fill. with me in the studio are the four candidates will looking for the senate say. they are the democratic governor, joe manchin,

republican candidate racey, the constitution party jeff becker, and the mountain parties jeff johnson. we have lawrence messina of the associated press,mikle myer of the intelligencer and melanie hoffman. the format of the date is as follows. some questions will be directed to specific candidates and those individuals will have two minutes to respond. as time permits, there will be a total of two minutes for rebuttal per question which i will direct. the opening question however is an exception and it is directed to all candidates. each person will have one minute to respond. if time allows, each candidate

will be asked to give a closing statement at the end of the program. statement at the end of the program. my role as moderator is to make sure that the candidates a dhere to this time limits and to keep the discussion ming. we are going to ask the first question in the order in which the candidates are seated, beginning with governor manchin, and we will reverse this order for closing statements. the candidates have not been given the questions in advance. to our first question, addressed by michael myelanie hoffman. >> this is ben and negative campaign. if you are elected, what positive changes we make to not only improve the lives of americans, but especially the citizens of west virginia. >> six years i became governor and i asked for the support of the people of we virginia because i knew we could do better. and we did.

we put our party aside. we left our special interests at the door and we started looking at the challenges we head. six years later, we are recognized as one of the be states and nations, as far as our financies. right now in washington, people are upset. they are putting party first. democrats and republicans are both wrong with this. . special interest second and the country third. we need to do the same in washington. that is what i intend to do it, as we did in west virginia. you must put the countries first, the same as we did west virginia. >> thank you. mr. becker. >> we need to get back to our founding principles. the declaration of independence was the promise, and the constitution was a full settlement of that promise. i think we need a renewed interest in american civics.

and studying history. we need to pay attention to the wisdom of our founders. the constitution was a compact among the states so that the -- and the senate was intended to represent the state's in federal congress. i think we need to get back to the issue of federalism, the state-federal relationship, were rather having -- rather than having senators being fourth and fifth representatives for west virginia and being responsive to the people, i think the senators could be working more with the state legislature and hoping the state legislature get their needs met in congress. >> thank you.

mr. johnson? >> i believe the negativity that all the people across the nation, as well as people in west virginia are experiencing is the result of our real lack of fairness in our electoral process today. we are faced with a great need for media reform, and taking money out of that. we are faced with a tremendous need for the public financing of our elections so that we have a level playing field and everyone has the same amount of money to proffer their points ofiew to the american public. i think this is crucial for our national security, frank. ly. facing what we experienced with the citizens united acctt, it hs put us in a very precarious position with intervention from multinational corporations abroad. one of the key things i want to focus on in the senate is the

passage of the disclosure act as a jumping off point, that there really needs to be the public financing of elections. we see it working very well in arizona and maine. >> thank you para >> thank you. i do not know how we cannot be- in this country, because when you look of the unemployment situation -- i do not know how we cannot be negative in this country, when you look at the unemployment rate. this is unacceptable. a lot of people are noangry. what i want to do in the united states senate is to bring back the of americanism, capitalism. my forte is creating jobs. when you have laws like obama- care that will destroy our health care system, when i see a situation like cats and trade

which is so bad for west virginia, -- cap and trade, which is soad for west virginia, when you look at the stimulus program that has sailed to america. these are programs we need to change in this country. spirit of capitalism to make a positive change in status following the line -- instead of following the line that has brought failure. >> mr. raese, senator byrd was known for bringing federal jobs to west virginia. you oppose the government's current role in the economy and would seek to abolish earmarks as well as the minimum wage. what is your consensus? would you pursue public dollars for west virginia is select? >> i think you bring up a good

point, when youay let's of dollars earmarked. since 1994, there have been 90,000 earmarks. what it does is that it creates career politicians. i think that is one of the problems. you mentioned senator byrd, and his ability, bearing back a lot of federal money. my question, is that the best answer for the problems of west virginia? i do not think so. i believe that when you teach a man to fish that he eats for a lifeme, but if you give it a man a fish he eats for a day. i want to bring back the spirit of capitalism. it requires the limitation of government powers and puts a limit on them to create the freedom of the individual. i think it is very important that we do create those freedoms. let's start looking at programs that make sense for america, that makes sense for west virginia. i would like to start cutting taxes. i would like to quit printing

money. i think we need to have a regulatory reform bill that puts was written and america first ain. >> -- puts west virginia and america first again. >> time for a bottle? >> on the earmarks, infrastructure is it -- is where aneisenhower had gone. water, infrastructure as far as roads, broadband, those are things that the free enterprise system will not go there. they will only go with the rket is. for all of us to have an opportunity, there has to a partnership. the federal and state governor should -- governoment should be your partner. there has to be the partnership. i recall that they said that

senator byrd brought the fbi. 10 years fast forward, it is one of the most progressive, one of the most efficient uses of the federal government they have ever had. it is done so well that the department of defense is expanding. a committed work force. you have to look at what the returns on the money invested. it should be transparent. the thing i think people are upset about, no one knows where and who is making the earmarked. if it is transparent, we will build a road or water line or supply, we will give people the opportunity for quality of life. that is something that we should look into. >> it this country is an amalgam. it is a melting pot of face and religion and ethnic background. we are an amalgam when it comes to who we are, and off senator

byrd stood up for the constitution, and the constitution dictates and spreads the the promise of this country that is not just capitalists. we have socialistic constructs that are intrinsic to our identity, our success in the 20th-century is born of the fact that we have firemen, police officers, we have a military, a tremendous infrastructure. cash if we work shirley based on capitalism -- if we were sorely based on capitalism, we would not have that. were a country of great promise. that is what we have to preserve against all of these different imbances. >> ok. mr. becker, do you have a comment? >> my only concern is with earmarks, you have senate candidates using those as part of a way of a vote-getting.

part of the 17th amendment, senators are chosen by the state legislature. imagine if we went back to that situation, and democrate dell advocated this, repealing the 17th amendment, where the earmarks would not be used for votes. >> thank you. we need to move on to the next question. our next question comes from michael mr. >> governor joe manchin, what would you do as senator to help rein in the federal deficit which is now running at about $1.30 trillion? >> the same as i did as governor. coming into the state, i knew we were in trouble. i said we could do better, we started looking at the on managed dead and the underfunded

liabilities and started bringing those under control -- we started looking at the on managed -- unmanaged debt and the underfunded liabilities as started bringing those under control. we as governors lived with the balanced budget amendment. it is worked well for west virginia. the debt we are amassing right now is unconscionable, and it is something that your grandchildren and children will not be able to live with. the cato institute is saying that west virginia is the third best run state in the nation, fiscally responsible. we have been disciplined. we have to live within our means. people in west virginia every day have to make decisions. we should be held to the same and this government has to be held to the same. runaway spending will stop with a balanced budget amendment. >> would you like to respond? >> i would concur with a

balanced budget amendment, but i would remind gernor manchin that he is for stimulus. when you look at stimulus, we billion ofg at $780 o suppose it progress by barack obama. if this is his idea of the way of save and cut spending, it is odd oto me. >> i would like to respond. the country is in freefall. i am not you're blaming president bush or president obama. we need to fix it. the bottom line is that we have all the states that e falling through except west virginia. system of this package was passed. we have been -- i have been criticized for not spending stimulus quick enough. we shored up because we knew it would come to an end. we did not support the second round of stimulus and did not. people have become soependent,

and it means everyone is waiting for someone to take care of it. in west virginia and we do not do that. we take re of ourselves. >> something neither of taxaddress is the issue of cuts regarding the deficit. in particular, were due stand on the repeal of the bush administration's tax cut for families that make $250,000 or more? >> i am for the tax cut across the board, at and i am for making them permanent, not just extending them but making them permanent. the democrats left washington without the opportunity for people to vote on those extensions. i find that concerning because we e going into a lame duck session. what it really is is the largest tax increase in the history of united states. i find that concerning.

so i want to make the bush tax cut permanent. i certainly have felt that way from the beginning, and when you looked add mr. manchin's record, he did not comment about the tax cuts until prior to quit a month ago. my record is clear -- i supported the tax cuts all along. i would like to make them permanen >> mr. manchin, where do you stand on repealing the tax for families to make $250,000 ore more? >> i do not think that during a recession you mess with any taxes. when i became governor, i have a record that speaks for itself because we have cut taxes and west virginia. $235 million worth of cuts. this is for all of our citizens and businesses. this is when i first came in,

ey said, we have to raise taxes. i said, i cannot ask the people to pay more until i know we are running this government efficiently. within one year, we were able to reduce taxes. we have a proven record and it works. >> mr. johnson, would you like to respond? >> i am adamantly against the bush tax cut for the wealthy. i see different options, and that is why i am here. there are different options to look at in regards twiggling downour debt -- whittlin our debt. first is our bloated level of spending -- when $1 out of $3 go to the department of defense, which is one of the two agencies that are not accountable. this is a serious issue. when we have no conventional enemies that we are dealing

with. we are not at war and have not declared a war since the second world war. however, when we look at this, one of the ideas i would suggest that look and very closely is what has happened in the last 20 years with the derivative market? we have ne from no derivative market to a debt that is nearly $700 trillion. nell, this is greater than the entire global gdp. -- now, this is greater than the entire global gdp. we could provide universal alth care for all citizens in this nation, which in my interpretation of the constitution, is a right. >> mr. becker, could you respond? >> company yes. article gives limited powers to the federal government. most of these departments are not authorized by the

constitution. we need to look at these and face amount. i know people are employed by the government, but we need to phase out as many of these programs as we can carry the republicans campaigned on this in 1994 with the contract of america. they did not do it they said they would do. now the republicans have the pledge for america. and it has -- well, it begins with on page 33 with a request, or a demand to have each piece of legislation began with a statement of constitutional authority. we already have that in congress. the house of representatives has their own role, ruulle 8, sectin "d." republicans have not fall this,

and the democrats do not do it, either. >> thank you very much. we need to go on to the next question. >> mr. jnson, coal mining is the most important industry in west virginia, but it is blamed for a lot of environmental problems. what is your opinion of the camp and trade legislation? >> i am in favor of the restriction of carbon emissions. we should not be dealing with carbon emissions on the level. what worries me about the cap and trade bill is the trade element. as i was describing with the the derivatives market that wrecked our economy, the trade element of that bill creates a whole new unregulated market for giant

corporations, and that is a future drain to the american coffers and worldwide. coal mining is essential to west virginia, but i have prospered since 2004 a change, a way to stop mountaintop roval immediately. and then transition away from burning coal. we are wasting non renewable resources that west virginia university itself identified more than 5000 products more than 20 years ago that we can manufacture in that sense. i have proffered a new coal economy based on carbon. carbon manufacturing, to rebuild manufacturing in the state of west virginia and rebuild theiddle class in america and started from the hills and hollows of west virginia. it this can be done now. -- if we have the political will and someone who would stand up

on the floor of the united states senate and fight for it, and i will do that. >> john raese, you oppose cap and trade. >> yes, i do. it would be disastrous for this country and for west virginia. it is not about the environment. it is about controlling manufacturing in this country. when you look at the essence of co2 release in this country, if you take all of the oceans in the world, they emit 125 billion -- of co2. it does not make any sense. when you lookt the scenario in e state of west virginia and the myth that there is global warming, and the other myth than man causes global warmi. i did not believe in that

myth. i think what we need to find is more accessible coal. we need to start growing this country with our natural resources. >> i respectfully disagree with present obama. that being said, coal has built this country, because it is been dependable, reliable, and affordable, and domestic. if you want this nation to be strong and secure, you have to quit buying the oil and products that other countries are using the money against as. if you want to stop the run from a nuclear armament, then quit buying a product -- if you want to stop iran from a nuclear armament. we needed to develop our renewable stirrede do everything we can in west virginia to be energy independent. that is how we will have a

secure, free, and strong a secured card would you like to go, mr. johnson? >> we keep going back to this coal for energy model. more energy shines on this planet in one day than all of mankind consumes in a year. geothermal has a greater potential for this state and then coal mining and all other sources combined. we have options and no political will in washington or the state of west virginia to explore them. estion for you. what solutions to do you offer for the state and for the country for when the coal runs out. ? >> that is an interesting question. when the coa.l runs out, you

are lking at almost 200 years. the myth is that the co2 emission is all about burning coal. governor joe manchin stated that he does believe that global warming is caused by man. and that is where he and i have a different. >> what is your position on what the state should do when the coal runs out? >>he coal is in a transition period, which could be 30 or 50 years. until there is a reliable fuel of the future, coal is our base load. the rest of the world is using more coal than ever.

china. we cannot compete with the higher price of energy into we are able to transition. you did not leave your base field, and there is nothing to replace it with. there will be a few of the future, i am sure. i think it should be done right here and west virginia. i know and west virginia we have the ability, theent ways of usid the fuels of the future. coal will be a mainstay for many years to come. >> we need to move on to the next question. >> despite the recent federal mine safety legislation, six months ago, 29 miners were kill in the upper big branch disaster. if you were elected, what more would you have congress do to

protect coal miners against these kinds of disasters? >> as you know, the safety of our miners is the most paramount thing in my mind. i have sat through too many tragedies and i never want to do that again. the bottom line we speak of is how do we have a safe workplace, not just minding but any workplace in america? what we have right now with the upper big branch investigation still going on -- the federal, state, the independent that they are doing. we have been coordinating our office, our legal staff has been preparing legislation with ventilation and how that should be controlled. what we have done and west virginia, we have challenged every miner to te control, to make sure you are in a safe workplace. if not, stop. make sure you are not in harm's way or any of your fellow workers. we empowered them to do that. we have a hot line.

we cannot continue to have people in an unsafe situation and nothing is done to control it. until this investigation is completed, and we will have legislation on the state level. on the federal level, we will be prepared to coordinate that with the state. that is what we did after the coal mine disaster. we did that with safety. we will do that after the upper big branch investigation is completed. >> mr. johnson, would you like to respond? >> i would like to respond to the 200 years. we are consuming coal at it accelerated rate. the fure starts tomorrow, and that is the moment we walk out of here. governor manchin is talking about mine health and safety.

what we need to look at is proper application of regulations. that is not being offered at the state or federal level, owould not have the situation with looking to the epa to enforce our laws. a former congressman wrote the mine health and safety act. had it been followed, ventilating that mine, then this acts of god would never have happened. deep mining is safe as long as it is done properly. we have perfected that in west virginia and around the world for years. there are many possibilities with carbon to utilize safety ls areand my walss being shipped abroad.

this is an opportunity for us, and the future starts tomorrow record >> would you like to address the issue of legislation for mine safety? >> i agree with governor manchin that we have to wait until all studies are in before we can formulate a plan of attack, but i am concerned about the obama administration and his direction th he is going against coal. i am concerned right now for the safety of our miners. when you see washington, they do not have the best concern of all the things that we do in the mining business. i am in the coal mining business and the limestone mining business. i have never been asked by any bureaucrat ever about my input into safety, my input int what we can do. my family has been in the mining business for over 97 years.

i'd like to see more of the private sector and fall. people that are experienced at what we do, instead of a lot of washington bureaucrats like we are seeing today. >> on to our next question. melanie hoffman, your next question is to mr. becker. >> as a member of the constitution party, what is your position on the continued buildup of american troops in afghanistan? >> i think we need to first take a look at happened on september 11. there were three buildings that collapsed on september 11 -- world trade center seven was two blocks away from the twin towers. it was not rained on by any debris. at 5:00 p.m. on 9/11, james stanley, a reporter for the bbc, was standing at ground zero

reported that building seven collapsed, when you can see it over their shoulder. then it did collapse. needs to be investigated. thaltar of building seven before 9/11 had taken out -- the older of the building 74 9/11 had taken up an insurance policy. he said he gave the order to pull it. it is a controlled demolition term. more evidence of foreknowledge. you can look at the bbc footage. how did the british know 20 minutes ahead of time that this would happen. this needs to be investigated. there is a preponderant of anomalies surrounding the events on 9/11.

architects and engineers, over 1000 agreed and licensed architects and engineers have looked at the information, and there is so much information -- it does not make sense. the only way the official story could have been is if the laws of physics changed. >> what is your position on the buildup of troops in afghanistan? >> i sport the commanders decision for the buildup and the president followed that recommendation. with that, we must support our troops and must give them the needed support they have in order to complete their mission. you have to listen to your front field commanders. we can all sit here and surmise what could have or should have, but that is not the case.

we have too many of our national guard. i see too many of them off. and i am there when they come back. sometimes they do not always return. that is the most devastating loss, when a person loses our luck -- their life f us. i have to look at that family and thank them for the sacrifice they made. with that being said, we must support and make sure they are safe. we must make sure they have all the support they need and return home sifford >> i will like to ask mr. raese or mr. johnson if they would like to respond. >> when general mcchrystal he onlyed toops, got 70% of the troops. once again, president obama did not listen to his generals. i know when you have a war you have to listen to your general.

when they request the troops, you have to do it 100%. win, yousophy is -- we in lose. >> mr. johnson, go ahead. >> i think what we need to keep in mind is that this is all the result the pursuit of empire. being the policeman of the world. that is a dangerous folly. when at $1 of $3f our money is going to a defense model, and we have a crumbling infrastructure and public transportation, that we need to consider that we perhaps should not be in these excursions notoad and that it's truly making us any safer, and in the process, we are giving up our civil liberties. when we consider that deaths of

9/11, and i'm not making light of that, but sheer fact, in our health care model, sloppy nmanship kills 7000 people per year per . se, you said you wanted to repeal the health care legislation congress passed. what is it about this new law that you do not like? >> i do not like socialism, to tell you the truth. when you have a doctor-patient relationship, that is the way it is supposed to be and that is it the way we have the greatest health care system in the world, and that is the way it is right now. that will change, because from here on out, under obama-care, something that governor manchin company supported, you will have a patient-bureaucrat

relationship, because the first person that patient has to go to is a bureaucrat. that is called a panel. i disagree with it. i disagree with the fact that it as 20 new taxes in it. i disagree with the fact that you have over 189 new federal agencies that will go with it. you will see insurance companies and doctors come under the penmanship of the federal govement. i disagree with all of that. i would like to repeal every part of it, because it is pure unadulterated socialism. it is the worst bill that has ever come out of the united states senate and house. right now when you look at the gross domestic product in this country with obama-care, you are looking at the fact that we are over 51% of the gdp in the country would be controlled by the federal government -- unacceptable. >> mr. manchin, i do want to address what john raese said, in that you came out in support of health care legislation in the

spring, and now you have seemed to distance yourself from it. why the change? is there anything good in this legislation for west virginia? >>. i am not prepared to scrap the entire bill. we have never passed a piece of perfect legislation. there is a lot of work to be done. i am not prepared to tell your child with a pre-existing condition, that he or she cannot be covered. i am not prepared to sit tell someone who had cancer, i am sorry, you cnot have insurance. i am n prepared to someone who might have a cap on their insurance, we cannot pay any more. there is a lot built into the bill that democrats and republicans agree with. that is a pretty good start. that is why we do things in west virginia. we need to fix what we have. yodo not go up there with basically starting and repealing everything. it just does not work that way.

there are people -- there are things that people depend on. there are things that people have been denied. there are people that cannot afford basic health care. working people are the ones left in the cold. if you're old enough, you have medicare. medicaid.poornough, if you are incarcerated, you are covered. ifou are getting up and going to work every day, you are the most vulnerable. that has to change occurred there are three parts that i will change. 1099 has to be repealed. that is onerous to small businesses. also, the firewall, to where it is not protecting abortion. that is what states need to

respond to. >> our health care problems in this country are largely the result of skyrocketing health- insurance costs and those are the result as the mccaren- ferguson act, public law 15, this is amazing, it exempted the insurance companies from the sherman antitrust act. there was a bad supreme court ruling that ruled that insurance was not commerce. of course insurance is commerce. the corporations are a for- profit business. now there ha been attempts to try to repeal the mccarren it- ferguson act. it failed in the senate. just this past february, the house passed a repeal bill,

over 400 votes for repealing it. now there is a companion bill in the senate, and i will support that vigorously. it is ridiculous that any company or corporation shod be exempted from antitrust. the ama did a study i read, in the past 14 years, some 400 health insurers havae merged. they can fix prices. >> i am consistently stunned at this health care act is characterized as socialism. it is not socialism at all. it is capitalism on steroids. you have to pay to a private corporation and you are under penalty of law for not doing so. this is not socialism by any stretch of the imagination. i am disturbed by the fact that

it was drawn behind closed doors and, wit great giveaways to the prescription drug industry as well as the insurance industry. when you consider, in 2001, pfizer was the most profitable company in the fortune 503 $7.80 billion that your -- $7.8 billion that year. this is extremely dangerous. as i mentioned before, 7,000 people die from sloppy penmanship and health care. >> thank you. we need to go to our next question. we go to john hingsbergen for his question. >> we invited the public to submit questions it for this debate. mr. jim kirk offer this

question. in your campaign, you have embraced many issues that are associated with the replican party. your position to climate change legislation and the health care bill are a couple of examples. can you identify any issues you support that would be cause for democrats to support you? >> social security. i am not for privatizing it social security, because there are so many west virginians that support it -- that depend on it. if that would have been privatized, with the downturn of the financial markets, 40% of the values would have been lost. we would have had 55% of our senior thrown into poverty. minimum wage. i believe in the minimum wage. i fought for that and i believe in it. it is basically helping people

have a balanced, or have a floor, if you will, so that there is some dignity andome reward. if you put that out to the market, it will fluctuate to wear, how low is low enough? you have medicare. i believe in medicare. basically every time this country got in trouble, every time that we hit bottom, it i the democrats that helped the people struggling and trying to take care of their families. i believe strongly in that. i am more of a centrist in its fiscal matters. i think it is important we bring people together tmake sure that we do not put burdens on people for things they cannot afford. when it is time to help people, we are always there. but i believe people should help themselves, too, if they are capable. the expansion of entitlements, i am not a big propone of that. i believe in giving a helping hand. i've always done that.

i cannot take care of the people who truly need it if i do not. >> this is a two-part question. this is part two. >> this is for mr. raese. in light of your opposition to setting a minimum wage, how would your policies to prevent a further slide in middle-class income? >> my opsition tminimum-wage is that i did not -- i do not agree that. it is something nobody can live on. i think it is too low. i do not like government setting price or wage controls. i want a better wage for everybody. in order to get a better wage for everybody, we have in this country, we have to start lifting jobs and manufacturing where they should be carrot not like -- not like manchin and obama. they enjoy peopleorking for $7.25. they like this. i do not.

demand is a very important word. demand in this country, with the obama policies, is running a large unemployment line right now. minimum-wage is one of the worst things possible for unemployment. so i would like to raise level of the playing field, because we need to set an environment that creates jobs in this country by cutting taxes and spending and putting american manufacturing first again. unless we do that, we will always be mired in how low can we go. i am opposite of that. i am positive in at how high we can go. i've treated a lot of jobs in my lifetime. jobs i've created a lot of in my lifetime. >> i will ask another question. this election has become a referendum opresident obama

and his administration. my question is, why has president obama become a focal point in this election in west virginia and should he be? mr. manchin, you can go for. >> i hate to inform my opponent, will notobama's name be on the ballot for u.s. senate in west virginia. well be me. my record has been very clear. and working in to bring everyone together, democrats republic -- democrats, republicans, mountain, constitutional party. wh this much money has been spent to try to scare people that i will do things i have never done, that i will let somebody control leave or be a rubber-stamp for somebody, but i have never been. we would not have all of these people to endorse me. when you talk about the endorsements. after six years, we have all the working people, all the labor. we have the u.s. chamber of

commerce. we have the coal association, the national rifle association, a health care providers, the doctors and nurses and hospitals. these people do not endorse me because we agree on every issue. they are too diverse. they endorsed me because we put a plan in place. they endorsed the process of bringing people togetr. i am not rubber-stamp for anybody. never have been in my life. in the of senator byrd, he did not care -- in the spirit of senator byrd, he did not care what political party. >> it certainly sounds like a career politician fto me. i am not after special interests. the reason we are concerned about what president obama has done is that if you are in business today, i defy anybody to supply a business plan moving forward. it is virtually impossible.

when you look at obama-care, when you look at the stimulus, taxation, the fact that we have not made any decision whatsoever on the bush tax cuts. wh you look at cap and trade. when you look at governor manchin's support for carbon tax, you have to wonder about obama and manchin and which direction they are going. there are choices in this election and they are very clear. when you look at business today, sector, we are the people that supply and motivate and bring this country together and make this country move. when you have people like obama and manchin, you have to be concerned about the future of this country because they are together on all five of those issues and have been. i think west virginia realizes where these people have been and where the country is going. i am a businessman. once again, i think i know a little bit about making jobs in this country. >> i think we have to let mr. manchin respond. >> there is no cap and trade in

west virginia. the bill the referred to is house bill 103. caooalwould i have the miners, the state chamber of commerce supporting a if anything we have done would harm their livelihood? if you have enough money and can spend that much money to scare people and make them believe that is absolutely false, that is what you get. the bottom line we have here to do with is present obama, or president bush. i am an american. i wanted president bush to be the best he could possibly be. i want my country to succeed. i will help you ever i can. i am going up there to help. i am bringing the successes we have had in west virginia to make this country better. >> we need to actually go to

closing statements, to allow everyone to have their last say. we will be going in reverse order from our first question, which means that john raese, you have one minutre. >> i want to thank west virginia public radio and west virginia for watching today. whoever is elected today will go into the lame duck session, a two-month session. we have the bush tax cuts. we need to make them permanent. we have a cap and trade which is a detriment to west virginia. most of all, we have a country that i think is going in the wrong direction. i would like an opportunity to go to the united states senate and put this country and the right direction, a country based on free enterprise, capitalism and what has made this country great for a long time and that is the freedom of america. i want to see the united states rise again. >> one minute, mr.

johnson. >> considering the fact that i did not get to answer the last three, with outrageous statements made on both sides of that. i ask the public as i am campaigning, are you sick enough yet t? it not now, when? everyone that i know that i come in contact with, every citizen has a sick feeling. they know there is something wrong the problem is -- the problem is that two-party system. you will find noeference to party in the constitution. can tivo that. the privatisation with workers comp, the i.t. of the state of west virginia, we have serious

privatization going on. quote minimum wage? we need a living wage for the citizens. we have answers. there are possibilities that have no political will being exercised. >> mr. becker, one minute. >> thank you, west virginia university, and the associated press for sponsoring this debate. the u.s. senate is regarded as the world's greatest delivered deliberative body. i wish i had more time. i like to direct the audience to utionparty.com. one of our great patriots said that people could be easily misled by men.

those who did not remember history, are doomed to repeat it. if you've heard anything that you like tonight, please visit my website -- jeffbecker.us. i ask for your vote on election day. thank you for your consideration. >> six years ago, when i asked to be governor, i asked to work with you to build a west virginia again. we brought all sides together. we didot put our political parties first. we put our state first. in washington, with the loss of senator byrd,here is a great many challenges that we have. i want to go there to take a common-sense approach that we brought to west virginia, i want to take it to washington. this can be fixed. this is a great country. and i will be independent. i have always been independent. i believe in west virginia and we have worked so well together. when you see what is happening in this country, i am as mad as you are, when they put their

parties first, before they put this country, that has got to change. that is not how you fix things in west virginia. i believe in you and i am asking you to believe in me. >> i want to thank our candidates and our panelists for a lively and informative discussion. i am sorry we were not able to get to everyone with every question. and i want to thank you, our audience, for watching and listening to tonight's debate. good night. ♪ [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> tonight, the first and only u.s. senate debate with

republican congressman mark kirk. this was president obama's senate seat and is now held by senator roland burris who is leaving office at the end of the year. live coverage from chicago begins at 8:00 eastern. then, pa. candidates for governor. after that, a debate between the florida at u.s. senate candidates. independent charlie crist, a republican marco rubio, and democratic congressman kendrick meek. and later a debate between the wisconsin candidate for senator. what political campaign coverage each night on c-span. >> "washington journal" is coming up next. from london, british prime minister david cameron will outline cuts to his countries

defense budget. that is live from the house of commons. at noon eastern, a speech from the ceo of defense contractor northrop grumman. later in the day, a discussion on next month's elections. from democratic adviser frompenn and karen hughes. that is live from george washington university at 6:00 p.m. eastern. >> in the final weeks of campaign 2010, the c-span video library is a great resource for voters. hear from the candidates, party officials, strategist, and reporters. c-span video library, all free, on-line, any time. >> coming up this hour, democratic strategist and cbs news political analyst jamal simmons will talk about african- american voters in the midterm election. afte t