FALLS CHURCH — It was the man who was not on the stage, the man they each hope to face in November, on whom the four Republican Senate candidates focused Friday night in their final debate before the June 12 primary.
Democrat Tim Kaine was the target of the Republicans vying for the chance to face him, candidates who in a pair of previous debates focused all of that venom on the Republican frontrunner they have to beat before they get to Kaine, George Allen.
“I thought the next question was going to Tim Kaine,” joked Chesapeake pastor E.W. Jackson, one of Allen’s opponents, after a particularly elongated rant about the former Democratic governor.
The 70-minute debate in front of about 500 Northern Virginia conservatives was the last of three for the Republican Senate field.
Only Tea Party activist Jamie Ratke took advantage of their last joint appearance to go toe-to-toe with Allen. She hit the former one-term senator for voting to add an expensive prescription drug program to Medicare and backing No Child Left Behind, two initiatives sought by Republican President George W. Bush.
“Tim Kaine will not run to the right of me on spending,” Radtke said, subtly criticizing the budgets Allen voted for during his previous Senate term.
Though not on hand, Kaine’s campaign responded to the repeated criticism following the debate.
“Tonight, Virginia voters heard George Allen and his fellow Tea Party contenders push reckless economic policies that would damage Virginia’s economy, create more uncertainty for our businesses, and make our nation less globally competitive,” Kaine spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine said.
For the most part, the four candidates found common ground on a number of issues, including their shared desire to shift more of the responsibility for education to the states and for broad income tax reform.
Allen distanced himself from the rest of the field, however, on whether a homosexual could serve as a judge. All four denounced activist judges, but only Allen said a person’s sexual orientation should not be a factor in determining qualification for the bench.
“Judges when I look at them, I look at what are their qualifications,” Allen said. “Sexual orientation is not a criteria for disqualifying.”
But he declined to say whether he supported the successful effort by state Del. Bob Marshall, another Senate candidate, to block a gay Richmond prosecutor from a district judgeship earlier this month.
“It’s funny, I didn’t hear an answer from our colleague,” Marshall said. “I’ve already done it. You’ve seen it in the papers. It’s quite easy to stand here and say you will do and not do things.”
Questions for the candidates were culled from the Republican Party of Virginia’s Facebook page and were spruced up by moderator Bob Holsworth, a longtime political analyst in Old Dominion.
It included an inquiry on whether the candidates supported the president sending troops overseas without a declaration of war from Congress. Radtke, Jackson and Marshall all were adamantly against it, but Allen instead attacked Obama for not supporting potential government opposition in Iran.
“The concern I have is not whether you have an authorization of force,” Allen said. “I really worry about the military readiness of our country, regardless of whether or not there’s an authorization of the use of force.”
Allen was the most persistent in his attacks of Kaine, largely ignoring the rest of the field to focus squarely on the November race.
But Jackson was the most animated in his criticism of the Democratic candidate, displaying oratory skills unrivaled in the debate.
“I know that there’s been a lot of pressure for us to fight each other. I’m not interested in fighting anybody on this podium,” Jackson said. “I am here to declare a war on Tim Kaine and Barack Obama.”
