Abraham in bitter contest with Stabenow

By Jeremy W. Peters

Daily Staff Reporter

The Senate race between incumbent Spence Abraham and Democratic challenger Debbie Stabenow has been characterized by its spiteful tone.

The attacks have been constant: On the airwaves, in the debates and in the press, they have only increased as the race has become more competitive and will likely grow more intense in the days remaining before the election.

With the race as tight as it is - the most recent poll has Abraham and Stabenow in a statistical tie - the bitterness should come as no surprise.

"I hope that people will look at the substantial number of positive ads we've run," said Abraham, who was first elected to the Senate in 1994. "I have no control over the ads the other side runs or some of the ones these outside groups have run and I wish there were fewer of these negative ads."

Stabenow, a Lansing congresswoman, said she also wishes there were fewer attack ads but blames the campaign's tone on Abraham and what she calls his association with special interests.

"We see in the ads that my opponent is being heavily funded by the insurance lobby ... because I've taken them on," Stabenow said. "Same thing with the pharmaceutical companies - I've taken them on ... and they've spent over $2 million supporting my opponent."

Stabenow's argument that her opponent is beholden to special interest groups has been turned around on her.

"Debbie Stabenow and her campaign have been bankrolled by nothing but special interest money," Abraham said. "The dominant number of television ads run on her behalf have not been paid for by her campaign but by liberal special interest groups."

Stabenow retorts that the groups supporting her are innocuous compared to those supporting the senator.

"It's a question of whose side we're on. I'm happy to have the Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters, (National Abortion Rights Action League) supporting me - even the AFL-CIO," she said. "It's a very different set of groups that supports each of us."

Much of the race has focused on the candidates' political philosophies. Abraham accuses Stabenow of being a big-spending liberal, while she accuses him of fighting for big business and the wealthy.

In terms of their political stances, the two differ starkly.

"I would say I'm an independent conservative," Abraham said. "That means breaking with the Republicans on a lot of major issues over the past six years. But my basic political philosophy is that I'm a conservative."

Abraham defined "conservative" as promoting tax cuts, free trade and strengthening the military.

Stabenow characterizes herself as a centrist.

"I come to the political process with a basic, common sense of trying to get things done," she said. "I believe in individual rights and human rights ... in a woman's right to choose."

The issues that have defined the race are much like those in presidential campaign: Medicare and Social Security reform, tax cuts and prescription drug benefits.

One of the major issues Abraham has pushed throughout the campaign is his version of the so-called "Social Security lockbox."

"Right now the system is structured in a way that the people in college ... are not going to have any money left for their benefits. And I've been up front protecting that money they send to Washington from being spent on other programs. I'm the guy that wrote it and it's in effect," he said.

Stabenow's bread-and-butter issue is health care, specifically a Patient's Bill of Rights.

"This is a fundamental issue of my campaign for U.S. Senate. It clearly demonstrates whose side I'm on and whose side the junior senator is on," she said.

Stabenow's version of the bill would allow doctors to have more say in treatment options and restricts the limitations insurance providers often place on patients.

MARJORIE MARSHALL/Daily

This handshake at the final debate between Rep. Debbie Stabenow and Sen. Spence Abraham last month was one of the only civil moments in the campaign.