{"id":3909,"date":"2008-10-29T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-29T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/10\/2nd-district-hopefuls-spar-during-final-debate\/"},"modified":"2008-10-29T07:30:00","modified_gmt":"2008-10-29T13:30:00","slug":"2nd-district-hopefuls-spar-during-final-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/10\/2nd-district-hopefuls-spar-during-final-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"2nd District hopefuls spar during final debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Republican 2nd Congressional District candidate Ed Tinsley<\/a> wants voters to believe only he has the ability to clearly articulate vision and argue policy on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

His Democratic opponent, Harry Teague<\/a>, wants voters to believe he\u2019s just like them and, because of that, is the only candidate who can bring an outsider\u2019s perspective to Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> and help change a broken political system.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The candidates\u2019 respective views of the race collided Tuesday in their final showdown before Election Day. The debate in Mesquite<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> was the least controlled of all forums and debates in which the candidates have participated, and they directly engaged each other at several points during the event.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

For Teague, there\u2019s been quite a shift from the primary, when he tried to divert attention from the reality that he\u2019s not the most articulate candidate to ever run for Congress. At Tuesday\u2019s forum, he embraced the fact that he never finished high school or attended college because, at age 17, his parents fell ill and he had to begin working in the oilfields in eastern New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> to support his family.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really a trained politician, and I\u2019m not an extravagant orator,\u201d Teague said in portraying himself as a regular citizen running against a lobbyist and lawyer who can\u2019t understand that Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> is broken.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cOur Congress doesn\u2019t need another smooth talker or speech giver,\u201d Teague said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Tinsley, seeking to capitalize on his own ability to articulate his views, cited endorsements he\u2019s won from the Las Cruces Sun-News<\/a> and Roswell Daily Record<\/a>. He highlighted the Sun-News\u2019 assertion that Teague \u201chas not articulated a clear vision for our district or for how he would address the pressing issues facing our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Tinsley, the newspaper said, \u201cbetter understands Congress and is better prepared for the steep learning curve ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about having a vision for American and our district going forward,\u201d Tinsley said at Tuesday\u2019s forum. He later added that the district needs \u201ca congressman who can understand some of the core issues that we face\u2026 somebody that can articulate that position in front of 434 members of Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Though there were enthusiastic supporters of both candidates among the group of about 60 people in attendance at the debate, southern Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> is Democratic country, and the crowd was largely friendly to Teague.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That was most apparent when the candidates directly engaged each other in a discussion about their own educations.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve talked down to me about my education this entire election. \u2026 That\u2019s hurtful,\u201d Tinsley said, apparently referring to Teague\u2019s attack on the fact that he is a trained lawyer.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Teague countered by pointing out \u201cthe time that you tried to tell the people that I wouldn\u2019t be able to talk to the other members of Congress.\u201d That\u2019s when Teague spoke about the fact that he never finished high school or attended college because he had to work. A man in the audience interrupted to shout, \u201cYou\u2019re one of us!\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The loud cheering and applause of most in attendance filled the fire station.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Tinsley ended the debate by praising Teague, saying he respects \u201call he\u2019s done in building his companies and taking care of his employees,\u201d but telling those in attendance that the race is about \u201cwho can best represent you in an effective manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m on your team,\u201d Tinsley said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Teague closed the debate by thanking Tinsley for participating.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what we need. We need a spirited debate about what\u2019s going on,\u201d Teague said. \u201c\u2026 Our country is in trouble and our system is broken, and we need somebody who understands that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republican 2nd Congressional District candidate Ed Tinsley wants voters to believe only he has the ability to clearly articulate vision and argue policy on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. His Democratic opponent, Harry Teague, wants voters to believe he\u2019s just like them and, because of that, is the only candidate who can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3909\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}