Hopefuls cite mood of voters

LITTLE ROCK — U.S. Rep. John Boozman said time hasn’t lessened Arkansans’ frustration over the federal stimulus program and the health-care revamp that U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln voted for.

“The mood is growing more fearful all the time,” he said. “[Voters are] very concerned about the president and they are very concerned about the leaderships in the House and the Senate.”

But as the election draws near, Lincoln said, the stimulus has funded water and highway projects across the state and “a lot of people” are starting to view the healthcare changes more positively.

“I think there are a lot of people who want to encourage fear and anger instead of encouraging Arkansans to look at the challenges we face in this country,” Lincoln said.

Lincoln said she hopes that Boozman isn’t one of those people.

Boozman of Rogers, the Republican congressman from the 3rd District in Northwest Arkansas, is challenging Lincoln of Little Rock, a Democrat seeking re-election Nov. 2.

Also on the ballot will be Green Party candidate John Gray of Greenland and independent Trevor Drown of Russellville.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette asked each candidate to offer questions to be answered by their opponents, then asked the opponents for their answers.

In interviews later, Lincoln and Boozman discussed what they thought the questions showed about the differences between them.

Lincoln’s questions addressed topics including Boozman’s co-sponsorship of a 23 percent national sales tax to replace the income tax. She also asked about Social Security, tax breaks for businesses, and congressional special projects.

Boozman’s questions addressed topics including the stimulus, health care, tax cuts, federal budgets, and amnesty for illegal aliens.

“People are very concerned about the deficit,” Boozman said. “The health-care bill is a very unpopular one. Immigration and amnesty is a very hot topic.”

Lincoln for several weeks has repeatedly criticized Boozman for being a sponsor of the “fair tax” bill that would eliminate the Internal Revenue Service and impose a 23 percent national sales tax on top of existing state and local sales taxes.

Tim Griffin of Little Rock, the Republican candidate for Congress in the 2nd District, recently said that he’s rethought his previous support of the fair tax and now opposes it.

Boozman said Lincoln’s criticisms and Griffin’s statement aren’t indications that Arkansans are souring on the fair tax.

He said that as “more and more find out about what it really does as opposed to what Sen. Lincoln is trying to portray,” they like it.

Boozman didn’t directly answer a Lincoln question about whether he favors abortion in cases of rape, incest or risk to the life of the mother.

Boozman later said he would support a bill that bans abortion except in the case of rape, incest or to save the mother’s life.

Lincoln also asked Boozman whether he is a Tea Party candidate, which Boozman didn’t directly answer.

Boozman said he’s been “supportive” of the Tea Party, but it’s hard to say whether he’s a candidate for the party because there hasn’t been a “Tea Party endorsement” as it isn’t one cohesive group.

Lincoln said the questions show that “John chooses his party over things that are important to Arkansas. He basically does what they tell him to do.”

Boozman has said that criticism is unfair. He said he’s stopped asking for earmark projects for Arkansas because spending is “out of control.”

Regarding the fair tax, Lincoln said people are “starting to understand it’s bad for 95 percent of Arkansans, that it will put a disproportionate burden on working families than on the wealthiest families. That’s who we are in Arkansas, working families.”

She said she asked the Tea Party question because “there seems to be a lot going on nationally” with the Republican Party either aligning with or distancing itself from the Tea Party.

“I don’t know if the Tea Party is a subset of the Republican Party,” Lincoln said. “I’m just curious.”

Lincoln said she opposes amnesty for illegal aliens but continues to support the “DREAM act” (the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act) which would allow illegal aliens to qualify for college scholarships and in-state tuition.

“We’ve already invested in their education [in public schools],” she said. “This only provides them with a way to be good or better taxpayers to provide for themselves.”

Boozman said he’s “very much opposed” to the DREAM act because it “rewards behavior you don’t want.”