Bush, McCain spar repeatedly in Manchester debate The Washington Post MANCHESTER, N.H. - The two men leading the Republican pack in New Hampshire sparred repeatedly - and sometimes in personal terms - over taxes, federal spending and education during a 90-minute debate last night. In a series of increasingly testy exchanges, Texas Gov. George W. Bush said Arizona Sen. John McCain's tax proposal leaves too much money in Washington and McCain charged that Bush's school voucher plan would rob public schools of federal money. Bush, looking to close the polling gap with McCain, accused McCain of crafting a tax plan that "Al Gore would have written." McCain immediately fired back: "If you're saying I'm like Al Gore, you're spinning like Bill Clinton." The final debate before Tuesday's primary here also found both men defending their anti-abortion credentials. Earlier yesterday, McCain was forced to correct an answer about what he would do if his teen-age daughter told him she were pregnant. Alan Keyes, the longshot candidate in the race, seized on the comment, saying it "displayed a profound lack of understanding" of the abortion issue. "I'm proud of my pro-life record," replied McCain, noting that he was the "only one" on the stage here who had voted on the Senate floor "for the preservation of life of the unborn." But McCain drew a line on the question: "I will not draw my children into this discussion." Later in the session, McCain, a Vietnam prisoner of war, chastised Keyes: "I've seen enough killing in my life. I know how precious human life is and I don't need a lecture from you." Steve Forbes, seeking to capitalize on his second place finish to Bush in Iowa, charged that the Texas governor's record on tax cuts, government spending and education was far worse than Bush has acknowledged - in some instances even worse than the Clinton administration's. "So many half stories, so little time," Bush said in one of his trademark quips. Bush said he has slowed the rate of state spending in Texas more than any previous governor and that public schools there are "meeting the challenge" of educating minority students. He said the people of Texas "looked at the real facts" and re-elected him by a landslide in 1998. The five men, standing behind podiums, cut a wide swath yesterday night, moving from China to foreign oil to whether the term "minority" should be eliminated as the country moves from majority white to majority minority. Originally on page 6A in the 1-27-2000 issue of the Daily.