Mike DeWine, Sherrod Brown defend votes during first debate

[Kolesar]

Thursday, August 10, 2006
Mark Naymik
Plain Dealer Politics Writer

The race for Ohio's U.S. Senate seat, fought thus far through television commercials and press releases, became more intimate Wednesday when Sen. Mike DeWine and U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown faced off for the first time.

Reciting each other's extensive voting records, DeWine and Brown, seated next to each other and at times nearly rubbing elbows, sparred for more than an hour over national security and trade policies, prescription drug plans, taxes and the war in Iraq.

The two met at a television studio at Lakeland Community College, where they were interviewed by two editors of the News-Herald. Reporters were allowed to watch the meeting, which was taped for possible later broadcast.

DeWine, a two-term Republican, charged that Brown's two votes against the U.S. Patriot Act - which gives the government broad powers to investigate suspected terrorists - put him in the "minority of even his own party."

"I don't question his patriotism," said DeWine, who supports the law. "I question his judgment."

DeWine also criticized Brown for voting to cut intelligence spending 11 times during his seven-term career, though he did not point out that many of the votes were cast before Sept. 11 and were in response to a ballooning military budget after the Cold War.

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