Coons, O’Donnell debate Constitution

The founding document of the United States was front and center at a recent debate between Democrat Chris Coons and Republican Christine O’Donnell, two candidates for U.S. Senate. Coons sidestepped O’Donnell’s demand that he name the five freedoms listed in the First Amendment, while O’Donnell drew blanks when quizzed about two other amendments.

O’Donnell drew incredulous laughter from the audience when she demanded Coons show her where the First Amendment provided for the separation of church and state.

“Where in the Constitution is separation of church and state?” she asked Coons.

“The government shall make no establishment of religion,” Coons said, paraphrasing the amendment.

“The First Amendment,” O’Donnell repeated slowly.

Campaign spokesman Matt Moran released a statement following the debate.

“Christine O’Donnell was not questioning the concept of separation of church and state as subsequently established by the courts,” he said. “She simply made the point that the phrase appears nowhere in the Constitution.”

The Tuesday, Oct. 19 debate was held at Widener University School of Law in Wilmington and hosted by Widener and WDEL 1150 AM. WDEL news anchor Peter MacArthur moderated the debate, and questions came from a panel of area journalists.

Coons and O’Donnell have never hesitated to attack each other, but the Widener debate saw a higher pitch of aggressiveness, with both candidates alleging falsehoods and talking over each other.

O’Donnell, who upset Republican Party favorite Mike Castle in September’s primary, has promised to base her legislative decisions on the Constitution. But when Chad Livengood, a reporter with The Wilmington News Journal, asked O’Donnell if she would repeal the 14th, 16th and 17th amendments, O’Donnell could only comment on one off the top of her head. She said she would not repeal the 17th Amendment, which empowers states to directly elect senators.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t bring my Constitution with me,” she said, laughing.

“Fortunately, senators don’t have to memorize the Constitution. Can you remind me of what the other ones are?”

Livengood said the 14th amendment defines citizenship, and the 16th establishes the income tax. O’Donnell said the government should reform the IRS, and while the U.S. has long been a beacon of hope for the downtrodden, its borders must be secured before any discussions of amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Coons said he would oppose any attempt to repeal the amendments.

“I also think you’ve just heard, in the answers from my opponent, her fundamental misunderstanding of what our Constitution is, how it is amended, and how it evolves.”

Later, O’Donnell shot back by asking Coons if he could name the five freedoms listed in the first amendment. Coons tried to deflect her question back to the issue of church and state, but she pressed him.

“How about we get the panel asking our questions today,” Coons said.

Livengood asked Coons about his connection to W.L. Gore Associates Inc, a Newark-based manufacturing company known for its work in polymers. Coons said founder William Gore was his stepfather. He said the now-multibillion dollar company had humble origins.

“My stepfather started a biz in the basement of his home with his parents,” he said. “It’s rooted in the creativity and vision of folks from Delaware.”

Coons worked for 8 years as Gore’s in-house counsel. In a debate at the University of Delaware less than a week earlier, O’Donnell said Gore has received money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and would receive more if cap-and-trade legislation is passed.

She asked Coons if he would recuse himself from voting on legislation that might benefit Gore; Coons said he would not. The two candidates once again locked horns on tax cuts due for renewal early next year. O’Donnell has accused Coons of flip-flopping on the cuts, but Coons said she can’t distinguish nuance from lies.

“We should extend the income tax cuts that were enacted a decade ago for 98 percent of the American public,” he said. “I would consider extending them further, and I would consider extending them for shorter time periods.” O’Donnell said Coons would hurt small business owners by not extending the tax break on individual incomes of $250,000 or greater.

“In this economy, it’s not the time to raise taxes on anyone,” she said, “small business owners or the upper-income job creators. When you decrease taxes, revenue increases. It happened under Kennedy, it happened under Reagan. This is what economics 101 will teach you.”

Tamela Edwards of Philadelphia-based ABC News 6 asked O’Donnell for three examples that show her success as a leader. After saying she could provide more than three, O’Donnell offered one – her decade of lobbying for Savior’s Alliance to Lift the Truth in Washington, D.C. – before proposing a two-year holiday on the capital gains tax. Edwards halted her, saying the candidate wasn’t answering the question.

“Look: I’m up here in the first place,” O’Donnell said. “My candidacy has inspired a groundswell of grassroots support that has extended across partisan lines. If you look at the success of my campaign, that proves my leadership skills.”

Closing out the debate, WDEL anchor Allan Loudell asked candidates if a president should still be allowed to wage war without a formal declaration from Congress. Coons and O’Donnell both said the commander-in-chief should be allowed to deploy troops in accordance with the War Powers Act, but O’Donnell used the question as a springboard to attack Coons’ call for ending combat operations in Afghanistan. She said withdrawing U.S. forces would only embolden terrorist elements in the country.

“If we allow these terrorists to chase us out of Afghanistan, like you want to do, you’re putting every single person in this room at risk,” she said. “How dare you give into political correctness like that.”

Coons said benchmarks O’Donnell has established for leaving Afghanistan – that the government left behind is representative and able to defend itself – are unrealistic.

“You have just laid out a position on Afghanistan that is reckless and irresponsible,” he said. Several Widener professors lingered after the debate ended and a scrum of cameras and boom-microphones followed O’Donnell out the front door. Wes Leckrone, who teaches American politics and government at Widener’s Chester, Pa. campus, said O’Donnell’s missteps on the Constitution made her seem uninformed.

“To a certain extent, she is very happy with the fact that she doesn’t understand a lot of the facts,” he said. “I think she makes that part of her persona.” A recent Rasmussen poll indicates O’Donnell has closed Coons’ lead from 19 percentage points to 11. While her gain is appreciable, Leckrone said, her performance at Widener is unlikely to sway undecided voters.

Wilmington resident and Widener Law student Mohammed Shariff said he hasn’t made up his mind just yet, but he’s unnerved by O’Donnell’s populist tone. His parents are refugees, he said, his mother from Kenya, his father from Tanzania.

“In third world countries, you have polarized people who are very spiritual and inspirational, a little extreme sometimes,” he said. “And they get leadership positions. And developed nations like America ask, who the hell would vote for this person? And that’s exactly what’s happening here.”