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Top 6th District Candidates’ Meet in Forum

The Baton Rouge Press Club hosted a forum Monday for the top five contenders in the 6th congressional district race. It’s one of the only times these candidates will get together, to each answer the same questions on issues including the minimum wage and healthcare.

It’s a cluttered race, and polls show the leading Democrat, Edwin Edwards, way ahead, with four Republicans clustered a dozen or more percentage points behind him. Monday’s Press Club event was a round robin affair, not a debate, so candidates had to work at differentiating themselves as they stepped up to the podium, one at a time.

The oldest candidate, 87-year-old Edwards, is running on his experience.

“If you liked the fact that I was governor for 16 years, and what I accomplished, then that’s the kind of congressman I’m going to be,” Edwards told the luncheon attendees.

The youngest candidate, 28-year-old Paul Dietzel, made it clear that he’s not Edwin Edwards—or Jindal’s former coastal chief Garret Graves.

“Career politicians who’ve never held a job in the private sector for any length of time make poor political leaders,” Dietzel observed. “As all of you know, I don’t have any government experience. I’ve never taken a paycheck from the government.”

The lone woman still in the race, State Representative Lenar’ Whitney, stuck with her usual theme.

“I’m considered to be the most conservative elected official and I’m the most conservative running in this race,” Whitney said.

So the candidates were each asked to define “conservative”. Whitney answered first.

“Following the Founding Fathers’ principles, following the Constitution, states’ rights and eliminating all the power that the federal government has,” is what she believes the term means.

Dietzel’s definition is similar: “I think ‘conservative’ can really be summed up in a few words: God, family, country, and hard work.”

Graves said, “It’s common sense. That’s what we need in Washington.”

Edwards defined both “conservative” and “liberal”.

“Conservative: one who is happy with the status quo,” Edwards said, adding “Liberals, on the other hand, see situations that might be made available to help people who do not have enough.”

State Senator Dan Claitor said there are different types of conservatives.

“I think there’s fiscal conservatives and social conservatives and somebody that encompasses the whole package,” and Claitor says that’s how he defines himself.

Candidates were then quizzed on issues, and differences quickly became harder to spot. Regarding the marriage of same sex couples, all four Republicans—Claitor, Dietzel, Whitney and Graves—say Louisiana voters already spoke in 2004, with a constitutional amendment defining marriage as “between one man and one woman”.

“That is a states’ rights issue and the people of Louisiana have spoken on that,” Claitor summed it up succinctly.

Edwards views it differently.

“I think we should have a civil union for people of the same sex who want to spend their lives together in a loving relationship, and give them the same benefits that married couples have,” the former governor said.

On raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour, Edwards supports it, while the GOP candidates say no. Graves explained the Republican stance.

“If you increase the minimum wage all you’re doing is increasing the prices of goods and services.” Graves went on to say, “People shouldn’t be making minimum wage when they have families. They need to be working harder, and they need to be advancing their careers through hard work.”

The candidates appeared were aligned  by party when it comes to keeping Obamacare. Claitor went first.

“I’m going to predict one, two, three, four nos, and one potential yes,” Claitor pointed to himself and the other Republicans in turn, and then to Edwards, the Democrat.

He was right. Claitor, Dietzel, Graves and Whitney each said they would work to repeal the federal healthcare overhaul, whereas Edwards basically told them to “get over it”.

“All of us together can’t repeal Obamacare,” Edwards said forcefully. “It was passed by the Congress, signed by the President and validated by the Supreme Court.”

With the four top Republicans sounding so similar, there’s no telling who will make a likely runoff with the ex-con/ex-governor. Early voting in the primary starts today, and the election itself is just two weeks from now.