Opinion: No issues banned in today’s debate

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Carolyn Washburn -- the now somewhat infamous editor of the Des Moines Register -- began today’s debate among Democratic presidential contenders without taking any issue off the table. Part of what earned her flak over the GOP forum she moderated Wednesday was that she had ruled discussions on the war in Iraq and immigration policy off the table, asserting that Iowans well-knew the candidate positions on those key subjects.

In her opening comments, however, Washburn made clear that she would continue to chart her own course in guiding the face-off. The issues to be discussed, she said, would be those that had not gotten much attention previously and those that Iowans of both parties said they wanted to hear more about.

The upshot: the first query concerned how committed the Democrats were to balancing the federal budget and what they would do to work toward that goal.

Not surprisingly -- especially in light of time restrictions imposed on answers -- each of the candidates stressed their commitment to fiscal responsibility without getting into the nitty-gritty of actually living up to that goal.

-- Don Frederick