WHERE THEY STAND
Both Democrat Michelle Nunn and Republican David Perdue have offered tantalizing few specifics of what they would do if elected to the U.S. Senate. Here is a look at some of their more vague promises, as well as a few actual concrete proposals.
TOTALLY VAGUE
Nunn: "Promote a strong middle class."
Perdue: "Too many families and too many businesses are struggling to get by."
ACTUAL IDEAS
Perdue: "That's why I support term limits; a maximum three terms in the House, two terms in the Senate. I'll stick to that commitment myself."
Nunn: "If Congress can't do its job and pass a budget, it shouldn't get paid. And neither should the president."
Sources: perduesenate.com; michellenunn.com
ONGOING CAMPAIGN COVERAGE
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Democrat Michelle Nunn’s hammers home a consistent message on the campaign trail in her bid to become Georgia’s next U.S. senator. She wants to “end gridlock” in Washington and work across the aisle.
But her public performances often offer little detail of what she would actually do if elected. And Nunn has failed to deliver specifics on many proposals. Her November opponent, Republican David Perdue, can be accused of the same, although — fairly or unfairly — the two have different agendas.
As a Republican running to join a Senate currently controlled by Democrats and with a Democrat in the White House, Perdue’s mission is simple: Be against what they are for. Nunn, however, has to navigate a perilous path that to carefully embraces some national Democratic policies while also offering a vision that appeals to Georgians suspicious of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and President Barack Obama.
That’s a problem that could hurt her in a close race, Emory University political scientist Andra Gillespie said.
“She’s presented herself as being bipartisan, as being results-oriented,” Gillespie said. “But, sooner or later, people are going to want to see specifics.”
To be sure, there are some issues on which Nunn is specific: She supports a proposed, bipartisan, immigration bill and a balanced budget plan.
But on others, there’s a distinct lack of specifics. On the Affordable Care Act, she has said it needs revisions, including a more affordable tier and increased business tax credits. But Nunn does not offer details as to how that would work or who would pay for it.
Her website, including a 7-page jobs plan, offers more details on issues. She specifically endorses the immigration bill, Common Core education standards and the Keystone Pipeline. She wants to make permanent tax credits for businesses that hire members of the National Guard and the Reserves. She advocates for extending unemployment insurance and allowing families to claim childcare as a business expense.
Yet, her website says she wants to “promote a strong middle class,” to “build self-sufficiency for low-income families and to “simplify the tax code” while making “tough choices and cut spending.” That’s the kind of generic, campaign-by-numbers effort that tells little about one’s plans.
Nunn has had no problem accepting money and help from national Democrats, including First Lady Michelle Obama and former President Bill Clinton.
Perdue's website is hardly better. There one can learn that the "best way to begin getting the debt under control is to grow the economy without a tax increase."
But Perdue, as he has on the campaign trail, also notes on his website that he supports (as does Nunn) a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Fair Tax and repealing the ACA, which he calls Obamacare, and replacing it with a plan sponsored by U.S. Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga. On his site he also says federal education bureaucracy should be dismantled, including Common Core.
Perdue spokeswoman Megan Whittemore said her candidate “has been clear and consistent” on issues and accuses Nunn of “distorting” Perdue’s record “rather than discussing her own policy positions.”
“Michelle Nunn’s campaign of deception attempts to hide her support for Obama and Reid’s big government policies of more spending, higher taxes, Obamacare, amnesty, and job-killing energy policies,” Whittemore said.
Still, Perdue’s ramrod dedication to opposing all things Obama has given him a defined presence, Emory’s Gillespie said.
“David Perdue at this point has articulated what he stands for,” she said. “There are people who may disagree with that and be turned off and move toward Michelle Nunn. But if you think those ideas are pragmatic and Nunn hasn’t offered an alternative she risks losing those votes.”
Nunn's campaign rejects the idea that she is thin on policy. They point to her jobs plan and note Perdue has none. They offer that she, along other major-party candidates who ran for Senate this year, including Perdue, offered detailed responses to health care questions in a survey for the Healthcare Georgia Foundation.
There are other key differences between the candidates. Nunn has said she supports this year’s Farm Bill. Perdue opposes it because of its food stamp costs. Nunn says she supports the Paycheck Fairness Act, that would promote equal pay for women and provide employees with new tools to fight discrimination. Perdue has opposed the bill as an unnecessary regulation. He aruges that laws already on the books provide for adequate equal-pay protection.
Steve Anthony, a political scientist at Georgia State University and former aide to long-time Democratic state House Speaker Tom Murphy, says Nunn has offered enough.
“The old days of an old, well thought-out platform with a position on every issue, that’s kind of gone by the wayside,” Anthony said. “What you do is you answer questions, specific questions about specific votes and that’s about all you do. And she has done that.”
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