Incumbent Gov. Jim Doyle and his Republican challenger U.S. Rep. Mark Green, butted heads for a second time Friday night in Milwaukee, debating a wide range of social issues including stem cell research, abortion, the death penalty and education.
Stem cell research proved to be the hot topic of the debate, with Doyle saying, there is no issue on which we differ [more] fundamentally.""
Doyle said he is ""in favor of continuing, and promoting, and building on the research going on at the University of Wisconsin right now."" He also charged Green, a Republican representative from Green Bay, with supporting a presidential veto of a bill that would allow federal funding of stem cell research.
Green, however, stressed his history of supporting funding for medical research and noted he is ""a huge supporter of medical research."" Green said he would not support the use of state tax dollars for research that destroys embryos. He would, however support a plan for the state to directly fund stem cell research if the research didn't ""destroy living human embryos.""
Green also accused Doyle of making stem cell research a political issue. ""Politicians look for issues, leaders look for answers. And that's what I've tried to do in my years in Congress,"" he said.
Both politics and personal beliefs also played a large role in the candidates' respective stances on abortion. ""I believe very strongly that women should be able to make their own most personal choices and it shouldn't be politicians that make those decisions,"" Doyle said.
Green, contrasting, stressed his anti-abortion position.
""I am compassionately pro-life,"" Green said. ""I want to reach out to women and help them realize that there are alternatives in the choices that are out there.""
The death penalty proved to be another black-and-white issue for the candidates""Green supports it, Doyle does not. There will be a death penalty referendum on the Nov. 7 ballot.
On the topic of education, the candidates addressed the recent surge in school shootings. Both candidates said they did not support a recently introduced bill that would allow teachers and administrators to carry guns in schools.
Both candidates outlined their plans for other educational issues, such as the achievement gap existing between white students and their minority peers, specifically in Milwaukee.
Doyle continued to stress education as his ""number one priority.""
""I saved cuts to the Milwaukee public schools in the amount of 40 million dollars,"" Doyle said, while accusing Green and Congress of cutting funding to schools.
Green expressed his support for charter schools, a merit-based pay system for teachers, and lifting the cap on school choice. Green vowed to ""set into motion a process that will modernize our educational standards.""
The two candidates will face off in a final debate on Oct. 20 in LaCrosse before the election.
