mr. portman. >> mr. portman, given the threat posed to the world by al-qaeda and the taliban, is it wise for the u.s. to begin withdrawing troops from afghanistan as president obama plan to do beginning next year? >> thank you for that question. we saw on tv that there are additional concerns, particularly in europe, about terrorist concerns. i hope the administration continues to view this as a war, because it is. president obama has supported and lee fisher has supported a withdraw from afghanistan on an arbitrary date line. this is what the military is saying. this is what the people in afghanistan are saying, including president carter said. this is what the people are saying all around the world who are worried america will not be able to protect them and us against terrorism. if we have an arbitrary deadline to withdraw, they will wait us out and afghanistan will be a safe haven for terrorists. it becomes a platform for another attack on our country. we simply cannot allow that. as we look at the ne

mr. portman, mr. fisher just mentioned the hyper partisanship that grips the congress, and i think that all ohioans hope their two senators were work together. in this campaign, you have been harshly criticized by ohio's junior senator, democrat brown. if you win, how would you work with him, given your fundamental differences on trade and job creation? >> interesting question. senator brown is the other senator and he has been very partisan. i do not think in the history of our state we have not had a senator who was not running for election who has been as active and partisan in this campaign. i suppose that he is trying to make up for the fact that he chose not to lee fisher support in the democratic primary. i have spoke with senator brown about this. i told them i was looking for to working with him. he has said he looks forward to working with me. i know he is supporting my opponent. i spoke to governor voinovich today. he is choosing to leave the united states senate, but he has reached across

mr. portman? >> thank you.nk you to the organizers for given the opportunity to give different visions. i chose to came to toledo to announce our campaign. this part of the state to often get left out. i have been back over a dozen times sent the biince. i have done this all over the great state. ohio has won a top-10 and implement rate in the country. we have lost some in the best and brightest young people. for the last four years, my opponent has been for lieutenant governor. it also been the governor of department of development appeared is responsible for creating jobs the. all of the things are a republican attacks. he will do it all night. he wants to distract us. the federal policies he is supporting. he is a strong supporter. he is not working for ohio. i am learning because i believe ohio and our country is heading in the wrong direction i believe there is a better way. there is a better way on health care and taxes and spending. they are helping getting private sector jobs that. i was born and raised

mr. portman, two minutes for your opening statement appeared >> thank you. thank you for being here tonight and thank you to the organizers. i chose to come to toledo to announce our campaign. i wanted to come to talia because as part of the state too often gets left out. i have been back a dozen times since, for factory with its meeting with workers, small- business owners, the economic summit folks. what i have seen will not surprise you. you feel it. our state has fallen behind the rest of the country. we have lost 400,000 jobs in the last four years. our unemployment rate has nearly doubled. in fact, right now, ohio has one of the top 10 highest unemployment rates in the country. we have lost businesses to other states. we have lost many of our bright young people. my opponent has been the lieutenant governor of ohio. he was the director of economic development in ohio, responsible for making jobs. you just heard from him and you just heard his attack. all of those attacks are partisan attacks and they are discredited and a couple of them are downright f

host: what about for senate, rob portman and mr. fish, i believe, it is. phyllis is gone. monte, san diego. caller: first of all, i have been watching c-span forever also. and i remember earlier on when anyone would make a grammatical error, eventually somebody would say something and we would not get back to the topic of the day or anything for 45 minutes. so i just wanted to shout to edwin newman. i just switched from independent to democrat after decades because of the last crisis in 2001, democrats stood up. they held their nose and they voted for legislation that they hated but they thought was best for the country. republicans this time have sat back and kept loans from small businesses, etc.. and they are just not helping. and california is a great example. republicans put up a goldman sachs member for governor, board member, someone who outsourced jobs for senator and my congressman was a defense contractor, took over irenic -- ironically for randy duke cunningham. it should be obvious to all what is going on here, it is corporations. host: why do you think barbara

mr. blumenthal, i'm very happy you have a better notion of how to create jobs this week than last week. >> reporter: jobs dominated ohio's senate debate where rob portman worked to keep his lead over democrat lee fisher. >> lieutenant governor fisher seems to want to talk about the one game, what a great job he's done to win some competitions. the fact is ohio is losing ground. >> reporter: republicans appear to be gaining ground. a cbs news poll finds the gop is favored to win at least 25 of the 35 seats in the house now held by democrats. winning the senate appears more of a long shot but analysts say it's still doable. just because president obama's comments have become more heated towards republican candidates don't expect the same thing from mrs. obama. the first lady is expected to keep her message very specific, what the outcome of this election will mean for children. kendis? >> thank you. >>> the california gubernatorial candidates also faced off last night in their final debate. republican meg whitman and democrat jerry brown jousted over jobs and taxes but things got heated when the mediator, tom brokaw, asked brown about an audio tape relea

mr. bloomenle that i am happy you have to better notion of how to create jobs this week than last week. >> reporter: jobs dominated ohio's senate debate where portmanto keep his lead over fisher. >> lieutenant governor fisher wants to talk about what a great job he has done to win competitions. the fact is ohio is losing grown. >> reporter: republicans appear to be gaining ground. a cbs news poll shows the gop is favored to win 25 of the 35 seats in the house now held by democrats. winning the senate appears to be more of a long shot but analysts say it is still doable. >> thank you for watching 9 ws

friend of congressman portman, has said there are some things beyond the control of governors that can only be fixed in that broken place called washington, d.c. >> thank you, mr. fisher. this darn clock. it does not stop when he wanted to. that is our debate. thank all of you at home for watching. a special thanks to all of our panelists tonight. . . >> our debate coverage continues tomorrow. pat quinn and faces a bill brady. later, candidates for the second congressional district of new hampshire. after that, in connecticut governors debate. dan meloy is running against republican. >> the first debate between senate cabinet. richard blumenthal and linda mcmahon. they rate this a toss up. this is hosted by the hartford courant. the moderator is from the fox news channel. >> live, and from the theater, fox coonnecticut since the debate. here is our moderator. >> good evening. this is a special report. welcome to the connecticut senate debate. it is between richard blumenthal and linda ed mcmahon. we bring you this debate. cover a wide range of topics it is from the economy to foreign policy. to an art to esteemed panelists. joining me are -- joining me are two